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Title: Walks in Rome

Author: Augustus J. C. Hare

Release date: March 29, 2012 [eBook #39308]

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WALKS IN ROME ***

WALKS IN ROME

TWO VOLS.

Volume I.

Contents Volume I.

Volume II.

Contents Volume II.

Index.

WALKS IN ROME

BY AUGUSTUS J. C. HARE

AUTHOR OF "MEMORIALS OF A QUIET LIFE," "WANDERINGS IN SPAIN," ETC.

TWO VOLUMES.—I.

FIFTH EDITION

LONDON

DALDY, ISBISTER & CO.

56, LUDGATE HILL

1875

[All rights reserved]

JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS.

TO

HIS DEAR MOTHER

THE CONSTANT COMPANION OF MANY ROMAN WINTERS

These pages are Dedicated

BY THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS VOLUME I.

INTRODUCTORY.

PAGE

THE ARRIVAL IN ROME

9

CHAPTER I.

DULL-USEFUL INFORMATION

27

CHAPTER II.

THE CORSO AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD

36

CHAPTER III.

THE CAPITOLINE

109

CHAPTER IV.

THE FORUMS AND THE COLISEUM

159

CHAPTER V.

THE VELABRUM AND THE GHETTO

221

CHAPTER VI.

THE PALATINE

273

CHAPTER VII.

THE CŒLIAN

316

CHAPTER VIII.

THE AVENTINE

348

CHAPTER IX.

THE VIA APPIA

372

CHAPTER X.

THE QUIRINAL AND VIMINAL

433

INTRODUCTORY.

THE ARRIVAL IN ROME.

"AGAIN this date of Rome; the most solemn and interesting that my hand can ever write, and even now more interesting than when I saw it last," wrote Dr. Arnold to his wife in 1840—and how many thousands before and since have experienced the same feeling, who have looked forward to a visit to Rome as one of the great events of their lives, as the realization of the dreams and longings of many years.

An arrival in Rome is very different to that in any other town of Europe. It is coming to a place new and yet most familiar, strange and yet so well known. When travellers arrive at Verona, for instance, or at Arles, they generally go to the amphitheatres with a curiosity to know what they are like; but when they arrive at Rome and go to the Coliseum, it is to visit an object whose appearance has been familiar to them from childhood, and, long ere it is reached, from the heights of the distant Capitol, they can recognize the well-known form;—and as regards St. Peter's, who is not familiar with the aspect of the dome, of the wide-spreading piazza, and the foaming fountains, for long years before they come to gaze upon the reality?

"My presentiment of the emotions with which I should behold the Roman ruins, has proved quite correct," wrote Niebuhr. "Nothing about them is new to me; as a child I lay so often, for hours together, before their pictures, that their images were, even at that early age, as distinctly impressed upon my mind, as if I had actually seen them."

Yet, in spite of the presence of old friends and landmarks, travellers who pay a hurried visit to Rome, are bewildered by the vast mass of interest before them, by the endless labyrinth of minor objects, which they desire, or, still oftener, feel it a duty, to visit. Their Murray, their Baedeker, and their Bradshaw indicate appalling lists of churches, temples, and villas which ought to be seen, but do not distribute them in a manner which will render their inspection more easy. The promised pleasure seems rapidly to change into an endless vista of labour to be fulfilled and of fatigue to be gone through; henceforward the hours spent at Rome are rather hours of endurance than of pleasure—his cicerone drags the traveller in one direction,—his antiquarian friend, his artistic acquaintance, would fain drag him in others,—he is confused by accumulated misty glimmerings from historical facts once learnt at school, but long since forgotten,—of artistic information, which he feels that he ought to have gleaned from years of society, but which, from want of use, has never made any depth of impression,—by shadowy ideas as to the story of this king and that emperor, of this pope and that saint, which, from insufficient time, and the absence of books of reference, he has no opportunity of clearing up. It is therefore in the hope of aiding some of these bewildered ones, and of rendering their walks in Rome more easy and more interesting, that the following chapters are written. They aim at nothing original, and are only a gathering up of the information of others, and a gleaning from what has been already given to the world in a far better and fuller, but less portable form; while, in their plan, they attempt to guide the traveller in his daily wanderings through the city and its suburbs.

It must not, however, be supposed, that one short residence at Rome will be sufficient to make a foreigner acquainted with all its varied treasures; or even, in most cases, that its attractions will become apparent to the passing stranger. The squalid appearance of its modern streets, the filth of its beggars, the inconveniences of its daily life, will leave an impression which will go far to neutralize the effect of its ancient buildings, and the grandeur of its historic recollections. It is only by returning again and again, by allowing the feeling of Rome to gain upon you, when you have constantly revisited the same view, the same temple, the same picture, that Rome engraves itself upon your heart, and changes from a disagreeable, unwholesome acquaintance, into a dear and intimate friend, seldom long absent from your thoughts. "Whoever," said Chateaubriand, "has nothing else left in life, should come to live in Rome; there he will find for society a land which will nourish his reflections, walks which will always tell him something new. The stone which crumbles under his feet will speak to him, and even the dust which the wind raises under his footsteps will seem to bear with it something of human grandeur."

"When we have once known Rome," wrote Hawthorne, "and left her where she lies, like a long-decaying corpse, retaining a trace of the noble shape it was, but with accumulated dust and a fungous growth overspreading all its more admirable features—left her in utter weariness, no doubt, of her narrow, crooked, intricate streets, so uncomfortably paved with little squares of lava that to tread over them is a penitential pilgrimage; so indescribably ugly, moreover, so cold, so alley-like, into which the sun never falls, and where a chill wind forces its deadly breath into our lungs—left her, tired of the sight of those immense seven-storied, yellow-washed hovels, or call them palaces, where all that is dreary in domestic life seems magnified and multiplied, and weary of climbing those staircases which ascend from a ground-floor of cook-shops, cobblers'-stalls, stables, and regiments of cavalry, to a middle region of princes, cardinals, and ambassadors, and an upper tier of artists, just beneath the unattainable sky,—left her, worn out with shivering at the cheerless and smoky fireside by day, and feasting with our own substance the ravenous population of a Roman bed at night, left her sick at heart of Italian trickery, which has uprooted whatever faith in man's integrity had endured till now, and sick at stomach of sour bread, sour wine, rancid butter, and bad cookery, needlessly bestowed on evil meats,—left her, disgusted with the pretence of holiness and the reality of nastiness, each equally omnipresent,—left her, half lifeless from the languid atmosphere, the vital principle of which has been used up long ago or corrupted by myriads of slaughters,—left her, crushed down in spirit by the desolation of her ruin, and the hopelessness of her future,—left her, in short, hating her with all our might, and adding our individual curse to the infinite anathema which her old crimes have unmistakeably brought down:—when we have left Rome in such mood as this, we are astonished by the discovery, by-and-by, that our heartstrings have mysteriously attached themselves to the Eternal City, and are drawing us thitherward again, as if it were more familiar, more intimately our home, than even the spot where we were born."

This is the attractive and sympathetic power of Rome which Byron so fully appreciated—

"Oh Rome my country! city of the soul!

The orphans of the heart must turn to thee,

Lone mother of dead empires! and controul

In their shut breasts their petty misery.

What are our woes and sufferance? Come and see

The cypress, hear the owl, and plod your way

O'er steps of broken thrones and temples. Ye!

Whose agonies are evils of a day—

A world is at our feet as fragile as our clay.

"The Niobe of nations! there she stands

Childless and crownless, in her voiceless woe;

An empty urn within her withered hands,

Whose sacred dust was scattered long ago;

The Scipios' tomb contains no ashes now;

The very sepulchres lie tenantless

Of their heroic dwellers: dost thou flow,

Old Tiber! through a marble wilderness?

Rise, with thy yellow waves, and mantle her distress!"

The impressiveness of an arrival at the Eternal City was formerly enhanced by the solemn singularity of the country through which it was slowly approached. "Those who arrive at Rome now by the railway," says Mrs. Craven in her 'Anne Severin,' "and rush like a whirlwind into a station, which has nothing in its first aspect to distinguish it from that of one of the most obscure places in the world, cannot imagine the effect which the words 'Ecco Roma' formerly produced, when on arriving at the point in the road from which the Eternal City could be descried for the first time, the postillion stopped his horses, and pointing it out to the traveller in the distance, pronounced them with that Roman accent which is grave and sonorous, as the name of Rome itself."

"How pleasing," says Cardinal Wiseman, "was the usual indication to early travellers, by voice and outstretched whip, embodied in the well-known exclamation of every vetturino, 'Ecco Roma.' To one 'lasso maris et viarum,' like Horace, these words brought the first promise of approaching rest. A few more miles of weary hills, every one of which, from its summit, gave a more swelling and majestic outline to what so far constituted 'Roma,' that is, the great cupola, not of the church, but of the city, its only discernible part, cutting, like a huge peak, into the dear winter sky, and the long journey was ended, and ended by the full realization of well-cherished hopes."

Most travellers, perhaps, in the old days came by sea from Marseilles and arrived from Civita Vecchia, by the dreary road which leads through Palo, and near the base of the hills upon which stands Cervetri, the ancient Cære, from the junction of whose name and customs the word "ceremony" has arisen,—so especially useful in the great neighbouring city. "This road from Civita Vecchia," writes Miss Edwards, the talented authoress of 'Barbara's History,' "lies among shapeless hillocks, shaggy with bush and briar. Far away on one side gleams a line of soft blue sea—on the other lie mountains as blue, but not more distant. Not a sound stirs the stagnant air. Not a tree, not a housetop, breaks the wide monotony. The dust lies beneath the wheels like a carpet, and follows like a cloud. The grass is yellow, the weeds are parched; and where there have been wayside pools, the ground is cracked and dry. Now we pass a crumbling fragment of something that may have been a tomb or temple, centuries ago. Now we come upon a little wide-eyed peasant boy, keeping goats among the ruins, like Giotto of old. Presently a buffalo lifts his black mane above the neighbouring hillock, and rushes away before we can do more than point to the spot on which we saw it. Thus the day attains its noon, and the sun hangs overhead like a brazen shield, brilliant, but cold. Thus, too, we reach the brow of a long and steep ascent, where our driver pulls up to rest his weary beasts. The sea has now faded almost out of sight; the mountains look larger and nearer, with streaks of snow upon their summits, the Campagna reaches on and on and shows no sign of limit or of verdure,—while, in the midst of the clear air, half way, so it would seem, between you and the purple Sabine range, rises one solemn solitary dome. Can it be the dome of St. Peter's?"

The great feature of the Civita Vecchia route was that after all the utter desolation and dreariness of many miles of the least interesting part of the Campagna, the traveller was almost stunned by the transition, when on suddenly passing the Porta Cavalleggieri, he found himself in the Piazza, of St. Peter's, with its wide-spreading colonnades, and high-springing fountains; indeed the first building he saw was St. Peter's, the first house that of the Pope, the palace of the Vatican. But the more gradual approach by land from Viterbo and Tuscany possessed equal if not superior interest.

"When we turned the summit above Viterbo," wrote Dr. Arnold, "and opened on the view on the other side, it might be called the first approach to Rome. At the distance of more than forty miles, it was of course impossible to see the town, and besides the distance was hazy; but we were looking on the scene of the Roman history; we were standing on the outward edge of the frame of the great picture, and though the features of it were not to be traced distinctly, yet we had the consciousness that they were before us. Here, too, we first saw the Mediterranean, the Alban hills, I think, in the remote distance, and just beneath us, on the left, Soracte, an outlier of the Apennines, which has got to the right bank of the Tiber, and stands out by itself most magnificently. Close under us in front, was the Ciminian lake, the crater of an extinct volcano, surrounded as they all are, with their basin of wooded hills, and lying like a beautiful mirror stretched out before us. Then there was the grand beauty of Italian scenery, the depth of the valleys, the endless variety of the mountain outline, and the towns perched upon the mountain summits, and this now seen under a mottled sky, which threw an ever-varying light and shadow over the valley beneath, and all the freshness of the young spring. We descended along one of the rims of this lake to Ronciglione, and from thence, still descending on the whole, to Monterosi. Here the famous Campagna begins, and it certainly is one of the most striking tracts of country I ever beheld. It is by no means a perfect flat, except between Rome and the sea; but rather like the Bagshot Heath country, ridges of hills with intermediate valleys, and the road often running between high steep banks, and sometimes crossing sluggish streams sunk in a deep bed. All these banks are overgrown with broom, now in full flower; and the same plant was luxuriant everywhere. There seemed no apparent reason why the country should be so desolate; the grass was growing richly everywhere. There was no marsh anywhere visible, but all looked as fresh and healthy as any of our chalk downs in England. But it is a wide wilderness; no villages, scarcely any houses, and here and there a lonely ruin of a single square tower, which I suppose used to serve as strongholds for men and cattle in the plundering warfare in the middle ages. It was after crowning the top of one of these lines of hills, a little on the Roman side of Baccano, at five minutes after six, according to my watch, that we had the first view of Rome itself. I expected to see St. Peter's rising above the line of the horizon, as York Minster does, but instead of that, it was within the horizon, and so was much less conspicuous, and from the nature of the ground, it looked mean and stumpy. Nothing else marked the site of the city, but the trees of the gardens and a number of white villas specking the opposite bank of the Tiber for some little distance above the town, and then suddenly ceasing. But the whole scene that burst upon our view, when taken in all its parts, was most interesting. Full in front rose the Alban hills, the white villas on their sides distinctly visible, even at that distance, which was more than thirty miles. On the left were the Apennines, and Tivoli was distinctly to be seen on the summit of its mountain, on one of the lowest and nearest parts of the chain. On the right and all before us lay the Campagna, whose perfectly level outline was succeeded by that of the sea, which was scarcely more so. It began now to get dark, and as there is hardly any twilight, it was dark soon after we left La Storta, the last post before you enter Rome. The air blew fresh and cool, and we had a pleasant drive over the remaining part of the Campagna, till we descended into the valley of the Tiber, and crossed it by the Milvian bridge. About two miles further on we reached the walls of Rome, and entered it by the Porta del Popolo."

Niebuhr coming the same way says:—"It was with solemn feelings that this morning from the barren heights of the moory Campagna, I first caught sight of the cupola of St. Peter's, and then of the city from the bridge, where all the majesty of her buildings and her history seems to lie spread out before the eye of the stranger; and afterwards entered by the Porta del Popolo."

Madame de Staël gives us the impression which the same subject would produce on a different type of character:—

"Le comte d'Erfeuil faisait de comiques lamentations sur les environs de Rome. Quoi, disait-il, point de maison de campagne, point de voiture, rien qui annonce le voisinage d'une grande ville! Ah! bon Dieu, quelle tristesse! En approchant de Rome, les postillons s'écrièrent avec transport: Voyez, voyez, c'est la coupole de Saint-Pierre! Les Napolitains montrent aussi le Vésuve; et la mer fait de même l'orgueil des habitans des côtes. On croirait voir le dôme des Invalides, s'écria le comte d'Erfeuil."

It was by this approach that most of its distinguished pilgrims have entered the capital of the Catholic world: monks, who came hither to obtain the foundation of their Orders; saints, who thirsted to worship at the shrines of their predecessors, or who came to receive the crown of martyrdom; priests and bishops from distant lands,—many coming in turn to receive here the highest dignity which Christendom could offer; kings and emperors, to ask coronation at the hands of the reigning pontiff; and among all these, came by this road, in the full fervour of Catholic enthusiasm, Martin Luther, the future enemy of Rome, then its devoted adherent. "When Luther came to Rome," says Ampère, in his 'Portraits de Rome à Divers Ages,' "the future reformer was a young monk, obscure and fervent; he had no presentiment, when he set foot in the great Babylon, that ten years later he would burn the bull of the Pope in the public square of Wittenberg. His heart experienced nothing but pious emotions; he addressed to Rome in salutation the ancient hymn of the pilgrims; he cried, 'I salute thee, O holy Rome, Rome venerable through the blood and the tombs of the martyrs.' But after having prostrated on the threshold, he raised himself, he entered into the temple, he did not find the God he looked for; the city of the saints and martyrs was a city of murderers and prostitutes. The arts which marked this corruption were powerless over the stolid senses, and scandalised the austere spirit of the German monk; he scarcely gave a passing glance at the ruins of pagan Rome;—and inwardly horrified by all that he saw, he quitted Rome in a frame of mind very different from that which he brought with him; he knelt then with the devotion of the pilgrims, now he returned in a disposition like that of the frondeurs of the Middle Ages, but more serious than theirs. This Rome of which he had been the dupe, and concerning which he was disabused, should hear of him again; the day would come when, amid the merry toasts at his table, he would cry three times, 'I would not have missed going to Rome for a thousand florins, for I should always have been uneasy lest I should have been rendering injustice to the Pope.'"

When one is in Rome life seems to be free from many of the petty troubles which beset it in other places; there is no foreign town which offers so many comforts and advantages to its English visitors. The hotels, indeed, are enormously expensive, and the rent of apartments is high; but when the latter is once paid, living is rather cheap than otherwise, especially for those who do not object to dine from a trattoria, and to drive in hackney carriages.

The climate of Rome is very variable. If the sirocco blows, it is mild and very relaxing; but the winters are more apt to be subject to the severe cold of the tramontana, which requires even greater precaution and care than that of an English winter. Nothing can be more mistaken than the impression that those who go to Italy are sure to find there a mild and congenial temperature. The climate of Rome has been subject to severity, even from the earliest times of its history. Dionysius speaks of one year in the time of the republic when the snow at Rome lay seven feet deep, and many men and cattle died of the cold.[1] Another year, the snow lay for forty days, trees perished, and cattle died of hunger.[2] Present times are a great improvement on these: snow seldom lies upon the ground for many hours together, and the beautiful fountains of the city are only hung with icicles long enough to allow the photographers to represent them thus; but still the climate is not to be trifled with, and violent transitions from the hot sunshine to the cold shade of the streets often prove fatal. "No one but dogs and Englishmen," say the Romans, "ever walk in the sun."

The malaria, which is so much dreaded by the natives, lies dormant during the winter months, and seldom affects strangers, unless they are inordinately imprudent in sitting out in the sunset. With the heats of the late summer this insidious ague-fever is apt to follow on the slightest exertion, and particularly to overwhelm those who are employed in field labour. From June to November the Villa Borghese and the Villa Doria are uninhabitable, and the more deserted hills—the Cœlian, the Aventine, and the greater part of the Esquiline,—are a constant prey to fever. The malaria, however, flies before a crowd of human life, and the Ghetto, which teems with inhabitants, is perfectly free from it. In the Campagna,—with the exception of Porto d'Anzio, which has always been healthy,—no town or village is safe after the month of August, and to this cause the utter desolation of so many formerly populous sites (especially those of Veii and Galera) may be attributed:—

"Roma, vorax hominum, domat ardua colla virorum;

Roma, ferax febrium, necis est uberrima frugum:

Romanæ febres stabili sunt jure fideles."

Thus wrote Peter Damian in the 10th century, and those who refuse to be on their guard will find it so still.

The greatest risk at Rome is incurred by those who, coming out of the hot sunshine, spend long hours in the Vatican and the other galleries, which are filled with a deadly chill during the winter months. As March comes on this chill wears away, and in April and May the temperature of the galleries is delightful, and it is impossible to find a more agreeable retreat. It is in the hope of inducing strangers to spend more time in the study of these wonderful museums, and of giving additional interest to the hours which are passed there, that so much is said about their contents in these volumes. As far as possible it has been desired to evade any mere catalogue of their collections,—so that no mention has been made of objects which possess inferior artistic or historical interest; while by introducing anecdotes connected with those to which attention is drawn, or by quoting the opinion of some good authority concerning them, an endeavour has been made to fix them in the recollection.

So much has been written about Rome, that in quoting from the remarks of others the great difficulty has been selection,—and the rule has been followed that the most learned books are not always the most instructive or the most interesting. No endeavour has been made to enter into deep archæological questions,—to define the exact limits of the Walls of Servius Tullius,—or to hazard a fresh opinion as to how the earth accumulated in the Roman Forum, or whence the pottery came, out of which the Monte Testaccio has arisen; but it has rather been sought to gather up and present to the reader such a succession of word pictures from various authors, as may not only make the scenes of Rome more interesting at the time, but may deepen their impression afterwards. This was the work which the late illustrious M. Ampère intended to carry out, and which he would have done so much better and more fully.

From the experience of many years the writer can truly say that the more intimately these scenes become known, the more deeply they become engraven upon the inmost affections. Rome, as Goethe truly says, "is a world, and it takes years to find oneself at home in it." It is not a hurried visit to the Coliseum, with guide book and cicerone, which will enable one to drink in the fulness of its beauty; but a long and familiar friendship with its solemn walls, in the ever-varying grandeur of golden sunlight and grey shadow—till, after many days' companionship, its stones become dear as those of no other building ever can be;—and it is not a rapid inspection of the huge cheerless basilicas and churches, with their gaudy marbles and gilded ceilings and ill-suited monuments, which arouses your sympathy; but the long investigation of their precious fragments of ancient cloister, and sculptured fountain,—of mouldering fresco, and mediæval tomb,—of mosaic-crowned gateway, and palm-shadowed garden;—and the gradually-acquired knowledge of the wondrous story which clings around each of these ancient things, and which tells how each has a motive and meaning entirely unsuspected and unseen by the passing eye.

The immense extent of Rome, and the wide distances to be traversed between its different ruins and churches, is in itself a sufficient reason for devoting more time to it than to the other cities of Italy. Surprise will doubtless be felt that so few pagan ruins remain, considering the enormous number which are known to have existed even down to a comparatively late period. A monumental record of A.D. 540, published by Cardinal Mai, mentions 324 streets, 2 capitols—the Tarpeian and that on the Quirinal,—80 gilt statues of the gods (only the Hercules remains), 66 ivory statues of the gods, 46,608 houses, 17,097 palaces, 13,052 fountains, 3785 statues of emperors and generals in bronze, 22 great equestrian statues of bronze (only Marcus Aurelius remains), 2 colossi (Marcus Aurelius and Trajan), 9026 baths, 31 theatres, and 8 amphitheatres!

It is impossible to speak too highly of the facilities afforded to strangers for seeing and enjoying everything, especially by the Roman nobility. The beautiful grounds of the Villa Borghese and the Villa Doria appear to be kept up at an enormous expense, solely for the use and pleasure of the public, and almost all the palaces and collections are thrown open on fixed days with unequalled liberality. In almost all these galleries, museums, and gardens the stranger is permitted to wander about and linger as he pleases, entirely unmolested by officious servants and ignorant ciceroni.

Those will enjoy Rome most who have studied it thoroughly before leaving their own homes. In the multiplicity of engagements in which a foreigner is soon involved, there is little time for historical research, and few are able to do more than "read up their Murray," so that half the pleasure and all the advantage of a visit to Rome are thrown away: while those who arrive with the foundation already prepared, easily and naturally acquire, amid the scenes around which the history of the world revolved, an amount of information which will be astonishing even to themselves. "People out of Rome," says Goethe, "have no idea how one is schooled there;" but then, as the author of 'Vera' remarks, "that is true of Rome, which Madame Swetchine said of life, viz. that you find exactly what you put into it."

The pagan monuments of Rome have been written of and discussed ever since they were built, and the catacombs have lately found historians and guides both able and willing,—about the later Christian monuments far less has hitherto been said. In English, except in the immense collection of interest which is imbedded in the works of Hemans, and in the few beautiful notices of some of the early martyrs by Mrs. Jameson, very little has been written; in French there is far more. There is a natural shrinking in the English Protestant mind from all that is connected with the story of the saints,—especially the later saints of the Roman Catholic Church. Many believe, with Addison, "that the Christian antiquities are so embroiled in fable and legend, that one derives but little satisfaction from searching into them." And yet, as Mrs. Jameson observes, when all that the controversialist can desire is taken away from the reminiscences of those, who to the Roman Catholic mind have consecrated the homes of their earthly life, how much remains!—"so much to awaken, to elevate, to touch the heart;—so much that will not fade from the memory, so much that may make a part of our after-life."

No attempt has been made in these pages to describe the country round Rome, beyond a few of the most ordinary drives and excursions outside the walls. The opening of the railways to Naples and Civita Vecchia have now brought a vast variety of new excursions within the range of a day's expedition—and the papal citadel of Anagni, the temples of Cori, the cyclopean remains of Segni, Alatri, Norba, Cervetri, and Corneto, and the wild heights of Soracte, will probably ere long become as well known as the oft-visited Tivoli, Ostia, and Albano. It is intended to supplement these "Walks in Rome" by a similar volume of "Excursions round Rome."

CHAPTER I.

DULL-USEFUL INFORMATION.

Hotels.—For passing travellers or bachelors, the best are: Hotel d'Angleterre, Bocca di Leone; Hotel de Rome, Corso. For families, or for a long residence: Hotel des Iles Britanniques, Piazza del Popolo; Hotel de Russie (close to the last), Via Babuino; Hotel de Londres, and Hotel Europa, Piazza di Spagna; Hotel Costanzi, Via S. Nicolo in Tolentino, in a high airy situation towards the railway-station, and very comfortable and well managed, but further from the sights of Rome. Less expensive, are: Hotel d'Allemagne, Via Condotti; Hotel Vittoria, Via Due Macelli; Hotel d'Italie, Via Quattro Fontane; Hotel della Pace, 8 Via Felice; Hotel Minerva, Piazza della Minerva, very near the Pantheon. A large new hotel is the "Quirinale," in the Via Nazionale.

Pensions are much wanted in Rome. The best are those of Miss Smith and Madame Tellenbach, in the Piazza di Spagna; Pension Suez, Via S. Nicolo in Tolentino; and the small Hotel du Sud, in the Capo le Case.

Apartments have lately greatly increased in price. An apartment for a very small family in one of the best situations can seldom be obtained for less than 300 to 500 francs a month. The English almost all prefer to reside in the neighbourhood of the Piazza di Spagna. The best situations are the sunny side of the Piazza itself, the Trinità de' Monti, the Via Gregoriana, and Via Sistina. Less good situations are, the Corso, Via Condotti, Via Due Macelli, Via Frattina, Capo le Case, Via Felice, Via Quattro Fontane, Via Babuino, and Via delle Croce,—in which last, however, are many very good apartments. On the other side of the Corso suites of rooms are much less expensive, but they are less convenient for persons who make a short residence in Rome. In many of the palaces are large apartments which are let by the year.

Trattorie (Restaurants) send out dinners to families in apartments in a tin box with a stove, for which the bearer calls the next morning. A dinner for six francs ought to be amply sufficient for three persons, and to leave enough for luncheon the next day. Restaurants where luncheons or dinners may be obtained upon the spot, are those of Bedeau, Via della Croce, and Nazzari, Piazza di Spagna. Those who wish for a real Roman dinner of Porcupine, Hedgehog, and other such delicacies, find it at the Falcone, where Ariosto used to lodge when in Rome.

English Church.—Just outside the Porta del Popolo, on the left. Services at 9 A.M., 11 A.M., and 3 P.M. on Sundays; daily service twice on week-days. The American Church is in the same building, with an entrance further on.

Post Office.—In the Piazza Colonna. The English mail leaves daily at 8 P.M.

Telegraph Office.—121 Piazza Monte-Citorio. A telegraph of 20 words to England, including name and address, costs 11 francs.

Bankers.—Hooker, 20 Piazza di Spagna; Macbean, 378 Corso; Plowden, 50 Via Mercede; Spada and Flamini, 20 Via Condotti.

For sending Boxes to England.—Welby, Strada Papala. (His agents in London, Messrs. Scott, 11 King William St.)

English Doctors.—Dr. Grigor, 3 Pa di Spagna; Dr. Small, 56 Via Babuino; Dr. Gason, 82 Via della Croce. German: Dr. Taussig, 144 Via Babuino. American: Dr. Gould, 107 Via Babuino. Italian: Dr. Valeri, 138 Via Babuino.

Homœopathic Doctor.—Dr. Liberali, 69 Via della Frezza.

Dentist.—Dr. Parmby, 93 Piazza di Spagna.

Sick-nurses.—Mrs. Meyer, 44 Via delle Carozze; the Nuns of the Bon-Secours at the convent in the Via del Banchi.

Chemists.—English Pharmacy, 498 Corso; Sininberghi, 134 Via Frattina; and Borioni, Via Babuino, are those usually employed by the English; but the chemists' shops in the Corso are as good, and much less expensive.

English House Agent.—Shea, 11 Piazza di Spagna.

English Livery Stables.—Jarrett, 3 Piazza del Popolo; Ranucci, Vicolo Aliberti.

Circulating Library.—Piale, 1, 2, Piazza di Spagna.

Booksellers.—Monaldini, Piazza di Spagna; Spithover, Piazza di Spagna; Bocca, 216 Corso; Loesther, 346 Corso.

Italian Masters.—Vannini, 31 Via Condotti (in the summer at the Bagni di Lucca); Monachesi (a Roman), 8 Via S. Sebastianello; Gordini, 374 Corso; N. Lucantini, 17 Via della Stamperia.

Photographers.—For views of Rome.—Watson, Via Babuino; Macpherson, 12 Vicolo Aliberti; Mang, 104 Via Felice; Anderson (his photographs sold at Spithover's); Joseph Phelps, 169 Via Babuino; Maggi, 329 Corso. For Artistic Bits, very much to be recommended, De Bonis, 11 Via Felice. For Portraits.—Suscipi, 48 Via Condotti (the best for medallions); Alessandri, 12 Corso (excellent for Cartes de Visite); Lais, 57 Via del Campo-Marzo; Ferretti, 50 Via Sta. Maria in Via.

Drawing Materials.—Dovizelli, 136 Via Babuino; Corteselli, 150 Via Felice. For commoner articles and stationery, the "Cartoleria," 214 Corso, opposite the Piazza Colonna.

Engravings.—At the Stamperia Nazionale (fixed prices), 6 Via della Stamperia, near the fountain of Trevi.

Antiquities.—Depoletti, 31 Via Fontanella Borghese; Innocenti, 118 Via Frattina; Santelli, 141 Via Frattina; Capobianchi, 152 Via Babuino.

Bronzes.—Röhrich, 104 Via Sistina; Chiapanelli, 92 Via Babuino; Dressler, 17 Via Due Macelli.

Cameos.—Saulini, 96 Via Babuino; Neri, 72 Via Babuino.

Mosaics.—Rinaldi, 125 Via Babuino; Boschetti, 74 Via Condotti.

Jewellers.—Castellani, 88 Via Poli (closed from 12 to 1), very beautiful, but very expensive; Pierret, 20 Piazza di Spagna; Innocenti, 33 Piazza Trinità de' Monti.

Roman Pearls.—Rey, 122 Via Babuino; Lacchini, 70 Via Condotti.

Bookbinder.—Olivieri, 1 Via Frattina.

Engraver.—(For visiting cards, &c.), Martelli, 139 Via Frattina.

Tailors.—Mattina (the "Poole" of Rome), Corso, opposite S. Carlo, entrance 2 Via delle Carozze; Vai, 60 Piazza di Spagna; Reanda, 61 Piazza. S. Apostoli; Evert, 77 Piazza Borghese.

Shoemakers.—Rubini, 223 Corso (none good).

Dressmaker.—Clarisse, 166 Corso.

Shops for Ladies' Dress.—Massoni, Palazzo Simonetti; the Ville de Lyon, 48 Via dei Prefetti (behind S. Lorenzo in Lucina); Sebastiani, 8 Via del Campo-Marzo; Giovannetti, 50 to 53 Campo-Marzo.

Roman Ribbons and Shawls.—Arvotti, 66 Piazza Madama (fixed prices); Bianchi, 82 Via della Minerva.

Gloves.—Cremonesi, 420 Corso; 4 Piazza S. Lorenzo in Lucina.

Carpets and small Household Articles.—Cagiati, 250 Corso.

German Baker.—Colalucci, 88 Via della Croce (excellent).

English Grocer.—Lowe, 76 Piazza di Spagna.

Italian Grocer and Wine Merchant.—Giacosa, Via della Maddalena.

Oil, Candles and Wood, &c.—Luigioni, 70 Piazza di Spagna.

English Dairy.—Palmegiani, 66 Piazza di Spagna.

Artists' Studios.—

Benonville, 61 Via Babuino,—landscapes.

Brennan, 76 Via Borghetto.

Coleman, 16 Via dei Zucchelli,—very good for animals.

Corrodi, 25 Angelo-Custode,—water-colour landscapes, very highly finished.

Desoulavy, 33 Via Margutta,—landscapes.

Fattorini, Via Margutta,—a very beautiful copyist.

Flatz, 3 Mario di Fiori,—sacred subjects.

Haseltine, J. H., 59 Via Babuino.

*Joris, 33 Via Margutta,—quite first-rate for figure subjects in water-colour.

Garelli, 217 Ripetta,—an admirable copyist, generally to be found in the Capitoline Gallery.

*Glennie, 17 Piazza Margana,—water-colour, first-rate.

Knebel, 33 Via Margutta,—oil landscapes.

Maes, 33 Via Margutta.

*Marianecci, 53 Via Margutta,—the prince of copyists.

Muller, 60 Piazza Barberini,—water-colour landscapes.

Podesti, 55 Via Margutta,—oil: large historical and sacred subjects.

Poingdestre, 36 Vicolo dei Greci—oil: landscapes.

Buchanan Read, 55 Via Margutta.

*Rivière, 36 Vicolo dei Greci,—water-colour.

De Sanctis, 33 Via Margutta.

Strutt (Arthur), 81 Via della Croce,—landscapes and figures, both oil and water-colour.

Tapiro (Spanish), 72 Sistina,—admirable for figures.

Tilton, 20 Via S. Basilio,—remarkable for his drawings of the Nile.

Vertunni, 53 Via Margutta.

Wedder, 55A Via Margutta.

*Penry Williams, 12 Piazza Mignanelli.

Sculptors' Studios.—

D'Epinay, 57 Via Sistina.

Fabj-Altini, 4 S. Nicolo in Tolentino.

Miss Foley, 53 Via Margutta,—admirable for medallion portraits and

busts, also the author of a beautiful fountain.

*Miss Hosmer, 118 Via Margutta—(Gibson's studio).

Miss Lewis, 8 Via S. Nicolo in Tolentino.

Macdonald, 7 Piazza Barberini.

Rosetti, 55 Via Margutta.

Story, 2 Via S. Nicolo in Tolentino.

Tadolini, 150A Via Babuino.

Wood (Shakspeare), 504 Corso,—excels in medallion portraits.

Wood (Warrington), 7 Piazza Trinità de' Monti.

It is impossible for a traveller who spends only a week or ten days in Rome to see a tenth part of the sights which it contains. Perhaps the most important objects are:

Churches.—S. Peter's, S. John Lateran, Sta. Maria Maggiore, S. Lorenzo fuori Mura, S. Paoli fuori Mura, S. Agnese fuori Mura, Ara Cœli, S. Clemente, S. Pietro in Montorio, S. Pietro in Vincoli, Sta. Sabina, Sta. Prassede and Sta. Pudentiana, S. Gregorio, S. Stefano Rotondo, Sta. Maria sopra Minerva, Sta. Maria del Popolo.

Palaces.—Vatican, Capitol, Borghese, Barberini (and, if possible, Corsini, Colonna, Sciarra, Rospigliosi, and Spada).

Villas.—Albani, Doria, Borghese, Wolkonski, and, though less important, Ludovisi.

Ruins.—Palace of the Cæsars, Temples in Forum, Coliseum, and, if possible, the ruins in the Ghetto, and the Baths of Caracalla.

It is desirable for the traveller who is pressed for time to apply at once to his Banker for orders for any of the villas for which they are necessary. The following scheme will give a good general idea of Rome and its neighbourhood in a few days. The sights printed in italics can only be seen on the days to which they are ascribed:—

Monday.—General view of Capitol, Gallery of Sculpture, Ara Cœli, General view of Forum, Coliseum, St. John Lateran (with cloisters), and drive out to the Via Latina and the aqueducts at Tavolato.

Tuesday.—Morning: St. Peter's and the Vatican Stanze. Afternoon: Villa Albani, St. Agnese, and drive to the Ponte Nomentana.

Wednesday.—Go to Tivoli (the Cascades, Cascatelle, and Villa d'Este).

Thursday.—Morning: Palace of the Cæsars. Afternoon: drive on the Via Appia as far as Torre Mezzo Strada; in returning, see the Baths of Caracalla.

Friday.—Morning: Palazzo Borghese, Palazzo Spada, The Ghetto, The Temple of Vesta, cross the Ponte Rotto to Sta. Cecilia; and end in the afternoon at St. Pietro in Montorio and the Villa Doria (or on Monday).

Saturday.—Frascati and Albano. Drive to Frascati early, take donkeys, by Rocca di Papa to Mte. Cavo; take luncheon at the Temple, and return by Palazzuolo and the upper and lower Galleries to Albano, whither the carriage should be sent on to await you at the Hotel de Russie. Drive back to Rome in the evening.

Sunday.—Morning: Sta. Maria del Popolo on way to English Church. Afternoon: St. Peter's again; drive to Monte Mario (Villa Mellini), or in the Villa Borghese, and end with the Pincio.

2d Monday.—Morning: Sta. Prassede, Sta. Pudentiana, Sta. Maria Maggiore. Afternoon: Sta. Sabina, Priorato Garden, English Cemetery, S. Paolo, and the Tre Fontane.

2d Tuesday.—Morning: Vatican Sculptures. Afternoon: S. Gregorio, S. Stefano Rotondo, S. Clemente, S. Pietro in Vincoli, Sta. Maria degli Angeli, S. Lorenzo fuori Mura, and drive out to the Torre dei Schiavi, returning by the Porta Maggiore.

2d Wednesday.—Morning: Palazzo Barberini, Palazzo Rospigliosi, (and on Saturdays) Vatican Pictures. Afternoon: Forum in detail, SS. Cosmo and Damian, and ascend the Coliseum.

The following list may be useful as a guide to some of the best subjects for artists who wish to draw at Rome, and have not much time to search for themselves:—

Morning Light:

Temple of Vesta with the fountain.

Arch of Constantine from the Coliseum (early).

Coliseum from behind Sta. Francesca Romana (early).

Temples in the Forum from the School of Xanthus.

View from the Garden of the Rupe Tarpeia.

In the Garden of S. Giovanni e Paolo.

In the Garden of S. Buonaventura.

In the Garden of the S. Bartolomeo in Isola.

In the Garden of S. Onofrio.

On the Tiber from Poussin's Walk.

From the door of the Villa Medici.

At S. Cosimato.

At the back entrance of Ara Cœli.

At the Portico of Octavia.

Looking to the Arch of Titus up the Via Sacra.

In the Cloister of the Lateran.

In the Cloister of the Certosa.

Near the Temple of Bacchus.

On the Via Appia, beyond Cecilia Metella.

Torre Mezza Strada on the Via Appia.

Torre Nomentana, looking to the mountains.

Ponte Nomentana, looking to the Mons Sacer.

Torre dei Schiavi, looking towards Tivoli.

Aqueducts at Tavolato.

Evening Light:

From St. John Lateran.

From the Ponte Rotto.

From the Terrace of the Villa Doria (St. Peter's).

Palace of the Cæsars—Roman side—looking to Sta. Balbina.

Palace of the Cæsars—French side—looking to the Coliseum.

Apse of S. Giovanni e Paolo.

Near the Navicella.

Garden of the Villa Mattei.

Garden of the Villa Wolkonski.

Garden of the Priorato.

Porta S. Lorenzo.

Torre dei Schiavi, looking towards Rome.

Via Latina, looking towards the Aqueducts.

Via Latina, looking towards Rome.

The months of November and December are the best for drawing. The colouring is then magnificent; it is enhanced by the tints of the decaying vegetation, and the shadows are strong and clear. January is generally cold for sitting out, and February wet; and before the end of March the vegetation is often so far advanced that the Alban Hills, which have retained glorious sapphire and amethyst tints all winter, change into commonplace green English downs; while the Campagna, from the crimson and gold of its dying thistles and fenochii, becomes a lovely green plain waving with flowers.

Foreigners are much too apt to follow the native custom of driving constantly in the Villa Borghese, the Villa Doria, and on the Pincio, and getting out to walk there during their drives. For those who do not care always to see the human world, a delightful variety of drives can be found; and it is a most agreeable plan for invalids, without carriages of their own, to take a "course to the Parco di San Gregorio," or to the sunny avenues near the Lateran, and walk there instead of on the Pincio. A carriage for the return may almost always be found in the Forum or at the Lateran.

CHAPTER II.

THE CORSO AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.

The Piazza del Popolo—Obelisk—Sta. Maria del Popolo—(The Pincio—Villa Medici—Trinità de' Monti) (Via Babuino—Via Margutta—Piazza di Spagna—Propaganda) (Via Ripetta—SS. Rocco e Martino—S. Girolamo degli Schiavoni)—S. Giacomo degli Incurabili—Via Vittoria—Mausoleum of Augustus—S. Carlo in Corso—Via Condotti—Palazzo Borghese—Palazzo Ruspoli—S. Lorenzo in Lucina—S. Sylvestro in Capite—S. Andrea delle Fratte—Palazzo Chigi—Piazza Colonna—Palace and Obelisk of Monte-Citorio—Temple of Neptune—Fountain of Trevi—Palazzo Poli—Palazzo Sciarra—The Caravita—S. Ignazio—S. Marcello—Sta. Maria in Via Lata—Palazzo Doria Pamfili—Palazzo Salviati—Palazzo Odescalchi—Palazzo Colonna—Church of SS. Apostoli—Palazzo Savorelli—Palazzo Buonaparte—Palazzo di Venezia—Palazzo Torlonia—Ripresa dei Barberi—S. Marco—Church of Il Gesu—Palazzo Altieri.

THE first object of every traveller will naturally be to reach the Capitol, and look down thence upon ancient Rome; but as he will go down to the Corso to do this, and must daily pass most of its surrounding buildings, we will first speak of those objects which will, ere long, become the most familiar.

A stranger's first lesson in Roman geography should be learnt standing in the Piazza del Popolo, whence three streets branch off—the Corso, in the centre, leading towards the Capitol, beyond which lies ancient Rome; the Babuino, on the left, leading to the Piazza di Spagna and the English quarter; the Ripetta, on the right, leading to the Castle of St. Angelo and St. Peter's. The scene is one well known from pictures and engravings. The space between the streets is occupied by twin churches, erected by Cardinal Gastaldi.

"Les deux églises élevées au Place du Peuple par le Cardinal Gastaldi à l'entrée du Corso, sont d'un effet médiocre. Comment un cardinal n'a-t-il pas senti qu'il ne faut pas élever une église pour faire pendant à quelque chose? C'est ravaler la majesté divine." Stendhal, i. 172.

It is in the church on the left that sermons are preached every winter on Sunday afternoons by some of the best Roman Catholic controversialists, just at the right moment for catching the Protestant congregations as they emerge from their chapels outside the Porta del Popolo.

These churches are believed to occupy the site of the magnificent tomb of Sylla, who died at Puteoli B.C. 82, but was honoured at Rome with a public funeral, at which the patrician ladies burnt masses of incense and perfumes on his funeral pyre.

The Obelisk of the Piazza del Popolo was placed on this site by Sixtus V. in 1589, but was originally brought to Rome and erected in honour of Apollo by the Emperor Augustus.

"Apollo was the patron of the spot which had given a name to the great victory of Actium; Apollo himself, it was proclaimed, had fought for Rome and for Octavius on that auspicious day; the same Apollo, the Sun-god, had shuddered in his bright career at the murder of the Dictator, and terrified the nations by the eclipse of his divine countenance." ... Therefore, "besides building a temple to Apollo on the Palatine hill, the Emperor Augustus sought to honour him by transplanting to the Circus Maximus, the sports of which were under his special protection, an obelisk from Heliopolis, in Egypt. This flame-shaped column was a symbol of the sun, and originally bore a blazing orb upon its summit. It is interesting to trace an intelligible motive for the first introduction into Europe of these grotesque and unsightly monuments of eastern superstition."—Merivale, Hist. of the Romans.

"This red granite obelisk, oldest of things, even in Rome, rises in the centre of the piazza, with a four-fold fountain at its base. All Roman works and ruins (whether of the empire, the far-off republic, or the still more distant kings) assume a transient, visionary, and impalpable character, when we think that this indestructible monument supplied one of the recollections which Moses and the Israelites bore from Egypt into the desert. Perchance, on beholding the cloudy pillar and fiery column, they whispered awe-stricken to one another, 'In its shape it is like that old obelisk which we and our fathers have so often seen on the borders of the Nile.' And now that very obelisk, with hardly a trace of decay upon it, is the first thing that the modern traveller sees after entering the Flaminian Gate."—Hawthorne's Transformation.

It was on the left of the Piazza, at the foot of what was even then called "the Hill of Gardens," that Nero was buried (A.D. 68).

"When Nero was dead, his nurse Eclaga, with Alexandra, and Acte the famous concubine, having wrapped his remains in rich white stuff, embroidered with gold, deposited them in the Domitian monument, which is seen in the Campus-Martius under the Hill of Gardens. The tomb was of porphyry, having an altar of Luna marble, surrounded by a balustrade of Thasos marble."—Suetonius.

Church tradition tells that from the tomb of Nero afterwards grew a gigantic walnut-tree, which became the resort of innumerable crows,—so numerous as to become quite a pest to the neighbourhood. In the eleventh century, Pope Paschal II. dreamt that these crows were demons, and that the Blessed Virgin commanded him to cut down and burn the tree ("albero malnato"), and build a sanctuary to her honour in its place. A church was then built by means of a collection amongst the common people; hence the name which it still retains of "St. Mary of the People."

Sta. Maria del Popolo was rebuilt by Bacio Pintelli for Sixtus IV. in 1480, and very richly adorned. It was modernized by Bernini for Alexander VII. (Fabio Chigi, 1655-67), of whom it was the family burial-place, but it still retains many fragments of beautiful fifteenth century work (the principal door of the nave is a fine example of this); and its interior is a perfect museum of sculpture and art.

Entering the church by the west door, and following the right aisle, the first chapel (Venuti, formerly Della Rovere[3]) is adorned with exquisite paintings by Pinturicchio. Over the altar is the Nativity—one of the most beautiful frescoes in the city; in the lunettes are scenes from the life of St. Jerome. Cardinal Christoforo della Rovere, who built this chapel and dedicated it to "the Virgin and St. Jerome," is buried on the left, in a grand fifteenth century tomb; on the right is the monument of Cardinal di Castro. Both of these tombs and many others in this church have interesting and greatly varied lunettes of the Virgin and Child.

The second chapel, of the Cibo family, rich in pillars of nero-antico and jasper, has an altarpiece representing the Assumption of the Virgin, by Carlo Maratta. In the cupola is the Almighty, surrounded by the heavenly host.[4]

The third chapel is also painted by Pinturicchio. Over the altar, the Madonna and four saints; above, God the Father, surrounded by angels. In the other lunettes, scenes in the life of the Virgin;—that of the Virgin studying in the Temple, a very rare subject, is especially beautiful. In a frieze round the lower part of the wall, a series of martyrdoms in grisaille. On the right is the tomb of Giovanni della Rovere, ob. 1483. On the left is a fine sleeping bronze figure of a bishop, unknown.

The fourth chapel has a fine fifteenth century altar-relief of St. Catherine between St. Anthony of Padua and St. Vincent. On the right is the tomb of Marc-Antonio Albertoni, ob. 1485; on the left, that of Cardinal Costa, of Lisbon, ob. 1508, erected in his lifetime. In this tomb is an especially beautiful lunette of the Virgin adored by Angels.

Entering the right transept, on the right is the tomb of Cardinal Podocanthorus of Cyprus, a very fine specimen of fifteenth century work. A door near this leads into a cloister, where is preserved, over a door, the Gothic altar-piece of the church of Sixtus IV, representing the Coronation of the Virgin, and two fine tombs—Archbishop Rocca, ob. 1482, and Bishop Gomiel.

The choir (shown when there is no service) has a ceiling by Pinturicchio. In the centre, the Virgin and Saviour, surrounded by the Evangelists and Sibyls; in the corners, the Fathers of the Church—Gregory, Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine. Beneath are the tombs of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, and Cardinal Girolamo Basso, nephews of Sixtus IV. (Francesco della Rovere), beautiful works of Andrea di Sansovino. These tombs were erected at the expense of Julius II., himself a Della Rovere, who also gave the windows, painted by Claude and Guillaume de Marseilles, the only good specimens of stained glass in Rome.

The high-altar is surmounted by a miraculous image of the Virgin, inscribed, "In honorificentia populi nostri," which was placed in this church by Gregory IX., and which, having been "successfully invoked" by Gregory XIII., in the great plague of 1578, has ever since been annually adored by the pope of the period, who prostrates himself before it upon the 8th of September. The chapel on the left of this has an Assumption, by Annibale Caracci.

In the left transept is the tomb of Cardinal Bernardino Lonati, with a fine fifteenth century relief of the Resurrection.

Returning by the left aisle, the last chapel but one is that of the Chigi family, in which the famous banker, Agostino Chigi (who built the Farnesina) is buried, and in which Raphael is represented at once as a painter, a sculptor, and an architect. He planned the chapel itself; he drew the strange design of the Mosaic on the ceiling (carried out by Aloisio della Pace), which represents an extraordinary mixture of Paganism and Christianity, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn (as the planets), conducted by angels, being represented with and surrounding Jehovah; and he modelled the beautiful statue of Jonah seated on the whale, which was sculptured in the marble by Lorenzetto. The same artist sculptured the figure of Elijah,—those of Daniel and Habakkuk being by Bernini. The altarpiece, representing the Nativity of the Virgin, is a fine work of Sebastian del Piombo. On the pier adjoining this chapel is the strange monument by Posi (1771) of a Princess Odescalchi Chigi, who died in childbirth, at the age of twenty, erected by her husband, who describes himself, "In solitudine et luctu superstes."

The last chapel contains two fine fifteenth century ciboria, and the tomb of Cardinal Antonio Pallavicini, 1507.

On the left of the principal entrance is the remarkable monument of Gio. Batt. Gislenus, the companion and friend of Casimir I. of Poland (ob. 1670). At the top is his portrait while living, inscribed, "Neque hic vivus"; then a medallion of a chrysalis, "In nidulo meo moriar"; opposite to which is a medallion of a butterfly emerging, "Ut Phœnix multiplicabo dies": below is a hideous skeleton of giallo antico in a white marble winding-sheet, "Neque hic mortuus."

Martin Luther "often spoke of death as the Christian's true birth, and this life as but a growing into the chrysalis-shell in which the spirit lives till its being is developed, and it bursts the shell, casts off the web, struggles into life, spreads its wings, and soars up to God."

The Augustine Convent adjoining this church was the residence of Luther while he was in Rome. Here he celebrated mass immediately on his arrival, after he had prostrated himself upon the earth, saying, "Hail sacred Rome! thrice sacred for the blood of the martyrs shed here!" Here, also, he celebrated mass for the last time before he departed from Rome to become the most terrible of her enemies.

"Lui pauvre écolier, élevé si durement, qui souvent, pendant son enfance, n'avait pour oreiller qu'une dalle froide, il passe devant des temples tout de marbre, devant des colonnes d'albâtre, des gigantesques obélisques de granite, des fontaines jaillissantes, des villas fraîches et embellies de jardins, de fleurs, de cascades et de grottes. Veut-il prier? il entre dans une église qui lui semble un monde véritable, où les diamants scintillent sur l'autel, l'or aux soffites, le marbre aux colonnes, la mosaïque aux chapelles, au lieu d'un de ces temples rustiques qui n'ont dans sa patrie pour tout ornement que quelques roses qu'une main pieuse va déposer sur l'autel le jour du dimanche. Est-il fatigué de la route? il trouve sur son chemin, non plus un modeste banc de bois, mais un siège d'albâtre antique récemment déterré. Cherche-t-il une sainte image? il n'aperçoit que des fantaisies païennes, des divinités olympiques, Apollon, Vénus, Mars, Jupiter, auxquelles travaillent mille mains de sculpteurs. De toutes ces merveilles, il ne comprit rien, il ne vit rien. Aucun rayon de la couronne de Raphaël, de Michel-Ange, n'éblouit ses regards; il resta froid et muet devant tous les trésors de peinture et de sculpture rassemblés dans les églises; son oreille fut fermée aux chants du Dante, que le peuple répétait autour de lui. Il était entré à Rome en pèlerin, il en sort comme Coriolan, et s'écrie avec Bembo: 'Adieu, Rome, que doit fuir quiconque veut vivre saintement! Adieu, ville où tout est permis, excepté d'être homme de bien.'"—Audin, Histoire de Luther, c. ii.

It was in front of this church that the cardinals and magnates of Rome met to receive the apostate Christina of Sweden upon her entrance into the city.

On the left side of the piazza rise the terraces of the Pincio, adorned with rostral-columns, statues, and marble bas-reliefs, interspersed with cypresses and pines. A winding road, lined with mimosas and other flowering shrubs, leads to the upper platform, now laid out in public drives and gardens, but, till twenty years ago, a deserted waste, where the ghost of Nero was believed to wander in the middle ages.

Hence the Eternal City is seen spread at our feet, and beyond it the wide-spreading Campagna, till a silver line marks the sea melting into the horizon beyond Ostia. All these churches and tall palace roofs become more than mere names in the course of the winter, but at first all is bewilderment Two great buildings alone arrest the attention:

"Westward, beyond the Tiber, is the Castle of St. Angelo, the immense tomb of a pagan emperor with the archangel on its summit.... Still further off, a mighty pile of buildings, surmounted by a vast dome, which all of us have shaped and swelled outward, like a huge bubble, to the utmost scope of our imaginations, long before we see it floating over the worship of the city. At any nearer view the grandeur of St. Peter's hides itself behind the immensity of its separate parts, so that we only see the front, only the sides, only the pillared length and loftiness of the portico, and not the mighty whole. But at this distance the entire outline of the world's cathedral, as well as that of the palace of the world's chief priest, is taken in at once. In such remoteness, moreover, the imagination is not debarred from rendering its assistance, even while we have the reality before our eyes, and helping the weakness of human sense to do justice to so grand an object. It requires both faith and fancy to enable us to feel, what is nevertheless so true, that yonder, in front of the purple outline of the hills, is the grandest edifice ever built by man, painted against God's loveliest sky."—Hawthorne.

Here the band plays under the great palm-tree every afternoon except Friday. On Sunday afternoons the Pincio is in what Miss Thackeray describes as "a fashionable halo of sunset and pink parasols"—when immense crowds collect, showing every phase of Roman life; and disperse again as the Ave-Maria bell rings from the churches, either to descend into the city, or to hear benediction sung by the nuns in the Trinità de' Monti.

"When the fashionable hour of rendezvous arrives, the same spot, which a few minutes before was immersed in silence and solitude, changes as it were with the rapidity of a scene in a pantomime to an animated panorama. The scene is rendered not a little ludicrous by the miniature representation of the Ring in Hyde Park in a small compass. An entire revolution of the carriage-drive is performed in the short period of three minutes as near as may be, and the perpetual occurrence of the same physiognomies and the same carriages trotting round and round for two successive hours, necessarily reminds one of the proceedings of a country fair, and children whirling in a roundabout."—Sir G. Head's 'Tour in Rome.'

"The Pincian Hill is the favourite promenade of the Roman aristocracy. At the present day, however, like most other Roman possessions, it belongs less to the native inhabitants than to the barbarians from Gaul, Great Britain, and beyond the sea, who have established a peaceful usurpation over all that is enjoyable or memorable in the Eternal City. These foreign guests are indeed ungrateful, if they do not breathe a prayer for Pope Clement, or whatever Holy Father it may have been, who levelled the summit of the mount so skilfully, and bounded it with the parapet of the city wall; who laid out those broad walks and drives, and overhung them with the shade of many kinds of tree; who scattered the flowers of all seasons, and of every clime, abundantly over those smooth, central lawns; who scooped out hollows in fit places, and setting great basons of marble in them, caused ever-gushing fountains to fill them to the brim; who reared up the immemorial obelisk out of the soil that had long hidden it; who placed pedestals along the borders of the avenues, and covered them with busts of that multitude of worthies,—statesmen, heroes, artists, men of letters and of song,—whom the whole world claims as its chief ornaments, though Italy has produced them all. In a word, the Pincian garden is one of the things that reconcile the stranger (since he fully appreciates the enjoyment, and feels nothing of the cost,) to the rule of an irresponsible dynasty of Holy Fathers, who seem to have arrived at making life as agreeable an affair as it can well be.

"In this pleasant spot the red-trousered French soldiers are always to be seen; bearded and grizzled veterans, perhaps, with medals of Algiers or the Crimea on their breasts. To them is assigned the peaceful duty of seeing that children do not trample on the flower-beds, nor any youthful lover rifle them of their fragrant blossoms to stick in his beloved one's hair. Here sits (drooping upon some marble bench, in the treacherous sunshine,) the consumptive girl, whose friends have brought her, for a cure, into a climate that instils poison into its very purest breath. Here, all day, come nursery maids, burdened with rosy English babies, or guiding the footsteps of little travellers from the far western world. Here, in the sunny afternoon, roll and rumble all kinds of carriages, from the Cardinal's old-fashioned and gorgeous purple carriage to the gay barouche of modern date. Here horsemen gallop on thorough-bred steeds. Here, in short, all the transitory population of Rome, the world's great watering-place, rides, drives, or promenades! Here are beautiful sunsets; and here, whichever way you turn your eyes, are scenes as well worth gazing at, both in themselves and for their historical interest, as any that the sun ever rose and set upon. Here, too, on certain afternoons in the week, a French military band flings out rich music over the poor old city, floating her with strains as loud as those of her own echoless triumphs."—Hawthorne.

The garden of the Pincio is very small, but beautifully laid out. At a crossroads is placed an Obelisk, brought from Egypt, and which the late discoveries in hieroglyphics show to have been erected there, in the joint names of Hadrian and his empress Sabina, to their beloved Antinous, who was drowned in the Nile A.D. 131.

From the furthest angle of the garden we look down upon the strange fragment of wall known as the Muro-Torto.

"Le Muro-Torto offre un souvenir curieux. On nomme ainsi un pan de muraille qui, avant de faire partie du rempart d'Honorius, avait servi à soutenir la terrasse du jardin du Domitius, et qui, du temps de Bélisaire, était déjà incliné comme il l'est aujourd'hui. Procope racconte que Bélisaire voulait le rebâtir, mais que les Romains l'en empêchèrent, affirmant que ce point n'était pas exposé, parce que Saint Pierre avait promis de le défendre. Procope ajoute: 'Personne n'a osé réparer ce mur, et il reste encore dans le même état.' Nous pouvons en dire autant que Procope, et le mur, détaché de la colline à laquelle il s'appuyait, reste encore incliné et semble près de tomber. Ce détail du siége de Rome est confirmé par l'aspect singulier du Muro-Torto, qui semble toujours près de tomber, et subsiste dans le même état depuis quatorze siècles, comme s'il était soutenu miraculeusement par la main de Saint Pierre. On ne saurait guère trouver pour l'autorité temporel des papes, un meilleur symbole."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 397.

"At the furthest point of the Pincio, you look down from the parapet upon the Muro-Torto, a massive fragment of the oldest Roman wall, which juts over, as if ready to tumble down by its own weight, yet seems still the most indestructible piece of work that men's hands ever piled together. In the blue distance rise Soracte, and other heights, which have gleamed afar, to our imagination, but look scarcely real to our bodily eyes, because, being dreamed about so much, they have taken the aerial tints which belong only to a dream. These, nevertheless, are the solid framework of hills that shut in Rome, and its broad surrounding Campagna; no land of dreams, but the broadest page of history, crowded so full with memorable events, that one obliterates another, as if Time had crossed and recrossed his own records till they grew illegible."—Hawthorne.

In early imperial times the site of the Pincio garden was occupied by the famous villa of Lucullus, who had gained his enormous wealth as general of the Roman armies in Asia.

"The life of Lucullus was like an ancient comedy, where first we see great actions, both political and military, and afterwards feasts, debauches, races by torchlight, and every kind of frivolous amusement. For among frivolous amusements, I cannot but reckon his sumptuous villas, walks, and baths; and still more so the paintings, statues, and other works of art which he collected at immense expense, idly squandering away upon them the vast fortune he amassed in the wars. Insomuch that now, when luxury is so much advanced, the gardens of Lucullus rank with those of the kings, and are esteemed the most magnificent even of these."—Plutarch.

Here, in his Pincian villa, Lucullus gave his celebrated feast to Cicero and Pompey, merely mentioning to a slave beforehand that he should sup in the hall of Apollo, which was understood as a command to prepare all that was most sumptuous.

After Lucullus—the beautiful Pincian villa belonged to Valerius Asiaticus, and in the reign of Claudius was coveted by his fifth wife, Messalina. She suborned Silius, her son's tutor, to accuse him of a licentious life, and of corrupting the army. Being condemned to death, "Asiaticus declined the counsel of his friends to starve himself, a course which might leave an interval for the chance of pardon; and after the lofty fashion of the ancient Romans, bathed, perfumed, and supped magnificently, and then opened his veins, and let himself bleed to death. Before dying he inspected the pyre prepared for him in his own gardens, and ordered it to be removed to another spot, that an umbrageous plantation which overhung it might not be injured by the flames."

As soon as she heard of his death, Messalina took possession of the villa, and held high revel there with her numerous lovers, with the most favoured of whom, Silius, she had actually gone through the religious rites of marriage in the lifetime of the emperor, who was absent at Ostia. But a conspiracy among the freedmen of the royal household informed the emperor of what was taking place, and at last even Claudius was aroused to a sense of her enormities.

"In her suburban palace, Messalina was abandoning herself to voluptuous transports. The season was mid-autumn, the vintage was in full progress; the wine-press was groaning; the ruddy juice was streaming; women girt with scanty fawnskins danced as drunken Bacchanals around her: while she herself, with her hair loose and disordered, brandished the thyrsus in the midst, and Silius by her side, buskined and crowned with ivy, tossed his head to the flaunting strains of Silenus and the Satyrs. Vettius, one, it seems, of the wanton's less fortunate paramours, attended the ceremony, and climbed in merriment a lofty tree in the garden. When asked what he saw, he replied, 'an awful storm from Ostia'; and whether there was actually such an appearance, or whether the words were spoken at random, they were accepted afterwards as an omen of the catastrophe which quickly followed.

"For now in the midst of these wanton orgies the rumour quickly spread, and swiftly messengers arrived to confirm it, that Claudius knew it all, that Claudius was on his way to Rome, and was coming in anger and vengeance. The lovers part: Silius for the forum and the tribunals; Messalina for the shade of her gardens on the Pincio, the price of the blood of the murdered Asiaticus." Once the empress attempted to go forth to meet Claudius, taking her children with her, and accompanied by Vibidia, the eldest of the vestal virgins, whom she persuaded to intercede for her, but her enemies prevented her gaining access to her husband; Vibidia was satisfied for the moment by vague promises of a later hearing; and upon the arrival of Claudius in Rome, Silius and the other principal lovers of the empress were put to death. "Still Messalina hoped. She had withdrawn again to the gardens of Lucullus, and was there engaged in composing addresses of supplication to her husband, in which her pride and long-accustomed insolence still faintly struggled into her fears. The emperor still paltered with the treason. He had retired to his palace; he had bathed, anointed, and lain down to supper; and, warmed with wine and generous cheer, he had actually despatched a message to the poor creature, as he called her, bidding her come the next day, and plead her cause before him. But her enemy Narcissus, knowing how easy might be the passage from compassion to love, glided from the chamber, and boldly ordered a tribune and some centurions to go and slay his victim. 'Such,' he said, 'was the emperor's command'; and his word was obeyed without hesitation. Under the direction of the freedman Euodus, the armed men sought the outcast in her gardens, where she lay prostrate on the ground, by the side of her mother Lepida. While their fortunes flourished, dissensions had existed between the two; but now, in her last distress, the mother had refused to desert her child, and only strove to nerve her resolution to a voluntary death. 'Life,' she urged, 'is over; nought remains but to look for a decent exit from it.' But the soul of the reprobate was corrupted by her vices; she retained no sense of honour; she continued to weep and groan as if hope still existed; when suddenly the doors were burst open, the tribune and his swordsmen appeared before her, and Euodus assailed her, dumb-stricken as she lay, with contumelious and brutal reproaches. Roused at last to the consciousness of her desperate condition, she took a weapon from one of the men's hands and pressed it trembling against her throat and bosom. Still she wanted resolution to give the thrust, and it was by a blow of the tribune's falchion that the horrid deed was finally accomplished. The death of Asiaticus was avenged on the very spot; the hot blood of the wanton smoked on the pavement of his gardens, and stained with a deeper hue the variegated marbles of Lucullus."—Merivale, Hist. of the Romans under the Empire.

From the garden of the Pincio a terraced road (beneath which are the long-closed catacombs of St. Felix) leads to the Villa Medici, built for Cardinal Ricci da Montepulciano by Annibale Lippi in 1540. Shortly afterwards it passed into the hands of the Medici family, and was greatly enlarged by Cardinal Alessandro de Medici, afterwards Leo XI. In 1801 the Academy for French Art-Students, founded by Louis XIV., was established here. The villa contains a fine collection of casts, open every day except Sunday.

Behind the villa is a beautiful Garden (which can be visited on application to the porter). The terrace, which looks down upon the Villa Borghese, is bordered by ancient sarcophagi, and has a colossal statue of Rome. The garden side of the villa has sometimes been ascribed to Michael Angelo.

"La plus grande coquetterie de la maison, c'est la façade postérieure. Elle tient son rang parmi les chefs-d'œuvre de la Renaissance. On dirait que l'architecte a épuisé une mine de bas-reliefs grecs et romains pour en tapisser son palais. Le jardin est de la même époque: il date du temps où l'aristocratie romaine professait le plus profond dédain pour les fleurs. On n'y voit que des massifs de verdure, alignés avec un soin scrupuleux. Six pelouses, entourées de haies à hauteur d'appui, s'étendent devant la villa et laissent courir la vue jusqu'au mont Soracte, qui ferme l'horizon. A gauche, quatre fois quatre carrés de gazon s'encadrent dans de hautes murailles de lauriers, de buis gigantesques et de chênes verts. Les murailles se rejoignent au-dessus des allées et les enveloppent d'une ombre fraîche et mystérieuse. A droite, une terrasse d'une style noble encadre un bois de chênes verts, tordus et eventrés par le temps. J'y vais quelquefois travailler à l'ombre; et le merle rivalise avec le rossignol au-dessus de ma tête, comme un beau chantre de village peut rivaliser avec Mario ou Roger. Un peu plus loin, une vigne toute rustique s'étend jusqu'à la porte Pinciana, où Belisaire a mendié, dit-on. Les jardins petits et grands sont semés de statues, d'Hermes, et de marbres de toute sorte. L'eau coule dans des sarcophages antiques ou jaillit dans des vasques de marbre: le marbre et l'eau sont les deux luxes de Rome."—About, Rome Contemporaine.

"The grounds of the Villa Medici are laid out in the old fashion of straight paths, with borders of box, which form hedges of great height and density, and are shorn and trimmed to the evenness of a wall of stone, at the top and sides. There are green alleys, with long vistas, overshadowed by ilex-trees; and at each intersection of the paths the visitor finds seats of lichen-covered stone to repose upon, and marble statues that look forlornly at him, regretful of their lost noses. In the more open portions of the garden, before the sculptured front of the villa, you see fountains and flower-beds; and, in their season, a profusion of roses, from which the genial sun of Italy distils a fragrance, to be scattered abroad by the no less genial breeze."—Hawthorne.

A second door will admit to the higher terrace of the Boschetto; a tiny wood of ancient ilexes, from which a steep flight of steps leads to the "Belvidere," whence there is a beautiful view.

"They asked the porter for the key of the Bosco, which was given, and they entered a grove of ilexes, whose gloomy shade effectually shut out the radiant sunshine that still illuminated the western sky. They then ascended a long and exceedingly steep flight of steps, leading up to a high mound covered with ilexes.

"Here both stood still, side by side, gazing silently on the city, where dome and bell-tower stood out against a sky of gold; the desolate Monte Mario and its stone pines rising dark to the right. Behind, close at hand, were sombre ilex woods, amid which rose here and there the spire of a cypress or a ruined arch, and on the highest point, the white Villa Ludovisi; beyond, stretched the Campagna, girdled by hills melting into light under the evening sky."—Mademoiselle Mori.

From the door of the Villa Medici is the scene familiar to artists, of a fountain shaded by ilexes, which frame a distant view of St Peter's.

"Je vois (de la Villa Medici) les quatre cinquièmes de la ville; je compte les sept collines, je parcours les rues régulières qui s'étendent entre le cours et la place d'Espagne, je fais le d'enombrement des palais, des églises, des dômes, et des clochers; je m'égare dans le Ghetto et dans la Trastévère. Je ne vois pas des ruines autant que j'en voudrais: elles sont ramassées là-bas, sur ma gauche, aux environs du Forum. Cependant nous avons tout près de nous la colonne Antonine et la mausolée d'Adrien. La vue est fermée agréablement par les pins de la villa Pamphili, qui reunissent leurs larges parasols et font comme une table à mille pieds pour un repas de géants. L'horizon fuit à gauche à des distances infinies; la plaine est nue, onduleuse et bleue comme la mer. Mais si je vous mettais en présence d'un spectacle si étendu et si divers, en seul objet attirerait vos regards, un seul frapperait votre attention: vous n'auriez des yeux que pour Saint Pierre. Son dôme est moitié dans la ville, moitié dans la ciel. Quand j'ouvre ma fenêtre, vers cinq heures du matin, je vois Rome noyée dans les brouillards de la fièvre: seul, le dôme de Saint-Pierre est coloré par la lumière rose du soleil levant."—About.

The terrace ("La Passeggiata") ends at the Obelisk of the Trinità de' Monti, erected here in 1822 by Pius VII., who found it near the Church of Sta. Croce in Gerusalemme.

"When the Ave Maria sounds, it is time to go to the church of Trinità de' Monti, where French nuns sing; and it is charming to hear them. I declare to heaven that I am become quite tolerant, and listen to bad music with edification; but what can I do? The composition is perfectly ridiculous, the organ-playing even more absurd: but it is twilight, and the whole of the small bright church is filled with persons kneeling, lit up by the sinking sun each time that the door is opened; both the singing nuns have the sweetest voices in the world, quite tender and touching, more especially when one of them sings the responses in her melodious voice, which we are accustomed to hear chaunted by priests in a loud, harsh, monotonous tone. The impression is very singular; moreover, it is well known that no one is permitted to see the fair singers, so this caused me to form a strange resolution. I have composed something to suit their voices, which I have observed very minutely, and I mean to send it to them. It will be pleasant to hear my chaunt performed by persons I never saw, especially as they must in turn sing it to the 'barbaro Tedescho,' whom they also never beheld."—Mendelssohn's Letters.

"In the evenings people go to the Trinità to hear the nuns sing from the organ-gallery. It sounds like the singing of angels. One sees in the choir troops of young scholars, moving with slow and measured steps, with their long white veils, like a flock of spirits."—Frederika Bremer.

The Church of the Trinità de' Monti was built in 1495 by Charles VIII. of France, at the request of S. Francesco di Paola. At the time of the French revolution it was plundered, but was restored by Louis XVIII. in 1817. It contains several interesting paintings.

In the second chapel on the left is the Descent from the Cross, the masterpiece of Daniele da Volterra, declared by Nicholas Poussin to be the third picture in the world, but terribly injured by the French in their attempts to remove it.

"We might almost fancy ourselves spectators of the mournful scene,—the Redeemer, while being removed from the cross, gradually sinking down with all that relaxation of limb and utter helplessness which belongs to a dead body; the assistants engaged in their various duties, and thrown into different and contrasted attitudes, intently occupied with the sacred remains which they so reverently gaze upon; the mother of the Lord in a swoon amidst her afflicted companions; the disciple whom he loved standing with outstretched arms, absorbed in contemplating the mysterious spectacle. The truth in the representation of the exposed parts of the body appears to be nature itself. The colouring of the heads and of the whole picture accords precisely with the subject, displaying strength rather than delicacy, a harmony, and in short a degree of skill, of which M. Angelo himself might have been proud, if the picture had been inscribed with his name. And to this I believe the author alluded, when he painted his friend with a looking-glass near it, as if to intimate that he might recognize in the picture a reflection of himself."—Lanzi.

"Daniele da Volterra's Descent from the Cross is one of the celebrated pictures of the world, and has very grand features. The body is not skilfully sustained; nevertheless the number of strong men employed about it makes up in sheer muscle for the absence of skill. Here are four ladders against the cross, stalwart figures standing, ascending, and descending upon each, so that the space between the cross and the ground is absolutely alive with magnificent lines. The Virgin lies on one side, and is like a grand creature struck down by a sudden death-blow. She has fallen, like Ananias in Raphael's cartoon, with her head bent backwards, and her arm under her. The crown of thorns has been taken from the dead brow, and rests on the end of one of the ladders."—Lady Eastlake.

The third chapel on the right contains an Assumption of the Virgin, another work of Daniele da Volterra. The fifth chapel is adorned with frescoes of his school. The sixth has frescoes of the school of Perugino. The frescoes in the right transept are by F. Zuccaro and Pierino del Vaga; in that of the Procession of St. Gregory the mausoleum of Hadrian is represented as it appeared in the time of Leo X.

The adjoining Convent of the Sacré Cœur is much frequented as a place of education. The nuns are all persons of rank. When a lady takes the veil, her nearest relations inherit her property, except about 1000l., which goes to the convent. The nuns are allowed to retain no personal property, but if they wish still to have the use of their books, they give them to the convent library. They receive visitors every afternoon, and quantities of people go to them from curiosity, on the plea of seeking advice.

From the Trinità the two popular streets—Sistina and Gregoriana—branch off; the former leading in a direct line (though the name changes) to Sta. Maria Maggiore, and thence to St. John Lateran and Sta. Croce in Gerusalemme. The house adjoining the Trinità was that of Nicholas Poussin; that at the angle of the two streets, called the Tempietto, was once inhabited by Claude Lorraine. The adjoining house (64 Sistina)—formerly known as Palazzo della Regina di Polonia, from Maria Casimira, Queen of Poland, who resided there for some years—was inhabited by the Zuccari family, and has paintings on the ground-floor by Federigo Zuccaro. One of the rooms on the first-floor was adorned with frescoes by modern German artists at the expense of the Prussian consul Bartholdy, viz.:—

The Selling of Joseph: Overbeck.

Joseph and Potiphar's Wife: Veit.

Meeting of Joseph and his Brethren: Cornelius.

The Seven Lean Years: Overbeck.

Joseph interprets the Dreams in Prison: Schadow.

The Brethren bring Joseph's Coat to Jacob: Schadow.

Joseph interprets the Dreams of Pharaoh: Cornelius.

The Seven Plentiful Years: Veit.

On the left of the Piazza del Popolo, the Via Babuino branches off, deriving its name from the mutilated figure on a fountain halfway down. On the right is the Greek Church of S. Atanasio, attached to a college founded by Gregory XIII. in 1580.

"To-day, the feast of the Epiphany, I have witnessed mass according to the Greek rite. The ceremonies appear to be more stately, more severe, more significant, and at the same time more popular, than those of the Latin rite."—Goethe, Romische Briefe.

Behind this street is the Via Margutta, almost entirely inhabited by artists and sculptors.

"The Via Margutta is a street of studios and stables, crossed at the upper end by a little roofed gallery with a single window, like a shabby Bridge of Sighs. Horses are continually being washed and currycombed outside their stable doors; frequent heaps of immondeazzajo make the air unfragrant; and the perspective is frequently damaged by rows of linen suspended across the road from window to window. Unsightly as they are, however, these obstacles in no wise affect the popularity of the Via Margutta, either as a residence for the artist, or a lounge for the amateur. Fashionable patrons leave their carriages at the corner, and pick their way daintily among the gutters and dust-heaps. A boar-hunt by Vallatti compensates for an unlucky splash; and a campagna sunset of Desoulavey glows all the richer for the squalor through which it is approached."—Barbara's History.

In this street also is situated the Costume Academy.

"Imagine a great barn of a room, with dingy walls half covered with chalk studies of the figure in all possible attitudes. Opposite the door is a low platform with revolving top, and beside it an écorché, or plaster figure bereft of skin, so as to exhibit the muscles. Ranges of benches, raised one above the other, occupy the remainder of the room; and if you were to look in at about eight o'clock on a winter's evening, you would find them tenanted by a multitude of young artists, mostly in their shirt sleeves, with perhaps three or four ladies, all disposed around the model, who stands upon the platform in one of the picturesque costumes of Southern Italy, with a cluster of eight lamps, intensified by a powerful reflector, immediately above his or her unlucky head.

The costumes are regulated by Church times and seasons. During Lent the models were mediæval dresses; during the winter and carnival, Italian costumes of the present day; and with Easter begin mere draperies, pieghe, or folds, as they are technically called.

Every evening the subject for the next night is chalked up on a black board beside the platform; for the next two nights rather; for each model poses for two evenings; the position of his feet being chalked upon the platform, so as to secure the same attitude on the second evening. Consequently, four hours are allowed for each drawing.... The pieghe are only for a single time, as it would be impossible to secure the same folds twice over.... The expense of attending the Academy, including attendance, each person's share in the model, and his own especial lamp, amounts to 2½d. an evening, or a scudo and a half (about 6s. 6d.) a month; marvellously cheap, it most be confessed."—H. M. B., in Once a Week.

The Babuino ends in the ugly but central square of the Piazza di Spagna, where many of the best hotels and shops are situated. Hence the Trinità is reached by a magnificent flight of steps (disgracefully ill kept), which was built by Alessandro Specchi at the expense of a private individual, M. Gueffier, secretary to the French embassy at Rome, under Innocent XIII.

"No art-loving visitor to Rome can ever have passed the noble flight of steps which leads from the Piazza di Spagna to the Church of the Trinità de' Monti without longing to transfer to his sketch-book the picturesque groups of models who there spend their day, basking in the beams of the wintry sun, and eating those little boiled beans whose yellow husks bestrew every place where the lower class Romans congregate—practising, in short, the 'dolce far niente.' Beppo, the celebrated lame beggar, is no longer to be seen there, having been banished to the steps of the Church of St. Agostino; but there is old Felice, with conical hat, brown cloak, and bagpipes, father of half the models on the steps. He has been seen in an artist's studio in Paris, and is reported to have performed on foot the double journey between Rome and that capital. There are two or three younger men in blue jackets and goat-skin breeches; as many women in folded linen head-dresses, and red or blue skirts; and a sprinkling of children of both sexes, in costumes the miniature fac-similes of their elders. All these speedily learn to recognise a visitor who is interested in that especial branch of art which is embodied in models, and at every turn in the street such a one is met by the flash of white teeth, and the gracious sweetness of an Italian smile."—H. M. B.

"Among what may be called the cubs or minor lions of Rome, there was one that amused me mightily. It is always to be found there; and its den is on the great flight of steps that lead from the Piazza di Spagna to the Church of the Trinità de' Monti. In plainer words, these steps are the great place of resort for the artists' 'Models,' and there they are constantly waiting to be hired. The first time I went up there, I could not conceive why the faces seemed so familiar to me; why they appeared to have beset me, for years, in every possible variety of action and costume; and how it came to pass that they started up before me, in Rome, in the broad day, like so many saddled and bridled nightmares. I soon found that we had made acquaintance, and improved it, for several years, on the walls of various Exhibition Galleries. There is one old gentleman with long white hair, and an immense beard, who, to my knowledge, has gone half-through the catalogues of the Royal Academy. This is the venerable or patriarchal model. He carries a long staff; and every knob and twist in that staff I have seen, faithfully delineated, innumerable times. There is another man in a blue cloak, who always pretends to be asleep in the sun (when there is any), and who, I need not say, is always very wide awake, and very attentive to the disposition of his legs. This is the dolce far niente model. There is another man in a brown cloak, who leans against a wall, with his arms folded in his mantle, and look out of the corners of his eyes, which are just visible beneath his broad slouched hat. This is the assassin model. There is another man, who constantly looks over his own shoulder, and is always going away, but never goes. This is the haughty or scornful model. As to Domestic Happiness, and Holy Families, they should come very cheap, for there are heaps of them, all up the steps; and the cream of the thing is, that they are all the falsest vagabonds in the world, especially made up for the purpose, and having no counterparts in Rome or any other part of the habitable globe."—Dickens.

"Climb these steps when the sun is setting. From a hundred belfries the bells ring for Ave Maria, and there, across the town, and in a blaze of golden glory, stands the great dome of St. Peter's: and from the terrace of the Villa Medici you can see the whole wonderful view, faintly pencilled Soracte far to your right, and below you and around you the City and the Seven Hills."—Vera.

The Barcaccia, the fountain at the foot of the steps, executed by Bernini, is a stone boat commemorating the naumachia of Domitian,—naval battles which took place in an artificial lake surrounded by a kind of theatre, which once occupied the site of this piazza. In front of the Palazzo di Spagna (the residence of the Spanish ambassador), which gives its name to the square, stands a Column of cipollino, supporting a statue of the Virgin, erected by Pius IX. in 1854, in honour of his new dogma of the Immaculate Conception. At the base are figures of Moses, David, Isaiah, and Ezekiel.

The Piazza di Spagna may be considered as the centre of the English quarter, of which the Corso forms the boundary.

"Every winter there is a gay and pleasant English colony in Rome, of course more or less remarkable for rank, fashion, or agreeability, with every varying year. Thrown together every day and night after night, flocking to the same picture-galleries, statue-galleries, Pincian drives, and church functions, the English colonists at Rome perforce become intimate, and in many cases friendly. They have an English library where the various meets for the week are placarded: on such a day the Vatican galleries are open; the next is the feast of Saint so-and-so; on Wednesday there will be music and vespers at the Sistine Chapel; on Thursday the pope will bless the animals—sheep, horses, and what-not; and flocks of English accordingly rush to witness the benediction of droves of donkeys. In a word, the ancient city of the Cæsars, the august fanes of the popes, with their splendour and ceremony, are all mapped out and arranged for English diversion."—Thackeray, The Newcomes.

The Piazza is closed by the Collegio di Propaganda Fede, founded in 1622 by Gregory XV., but enlarged by Urban VIII., who built the present edifice from plans of Bernini. Like all the buildings erected by this pope, its chief decorations are the bees of the Barberini. The object of the college is the education of youths of all nations as missionaries.

"The origin of the Propaganda is properly to be sought in an edict of Gregory XIII., by which the direction of eastern missions was confided to a certain number of cardinals, who were commanded to promote the printing of catechisms in the less known tongues. But the institution was not firmly established; it was unprovided with the requisite means, and was by no means comprehensive in its views. It was at the suggestion of the great preacher Girolamo da Narni that the idea was first conceived of extending the above-named institution. At his suggestion, a congregation was established in all due form, and by this body regular meetings were to be held for the guidance and conduct of missions in every part of the world. The first funds were advanced by Gregory; his nephew contributed from his private property; and since this institution was in fact adapted to a want, the pressure of which was then felt, it increased in prosperity and splendour. Who does not know the services performed by the Propaganda for the diffusion of philosophical studies? and not this only;—the institution has generally laboured (in its earliest years most successfully, perhaps) to fulfil its vocation in a liberal and noble spirit."—Ranke, Hist. of the Popes.

"On y reçoit des jeunes gens nés dans les pays ultramontains et orientaux, où sont les infidéles et les hérétiques; ils y font leur education religieuse et civile, et retournent dans leur pays comme missionnaires pour propager la loi."—A. Du Pays.

"Le collége du Propaganda Fede, ou l'on engraisse des missionnaires pour donner à manger aux cannibales. C'est, ma foi, un excellent ragout pour eux, que deux pères franciscains à la sauce rousse. Le capucin en daube, se mange aussi comme le renard, quand il a été gelé. Il y a à la Propagande une bibliothèque, une imprimerie fournie de toutes sortes de caractères des langues orientales, et de petits Chinois qu'on y élève ainsi que des alouettes chanterelles, pour en attraper d'autres."—De Brosses.

In January a festival is held here, when speeches are recited by the pupils in all their different languages. The public is admitted by tickets.

The Via Ripetta leaves the Piazza del Popolo on the right. Passing, on the right, a large building belonging to the Academy of St. Luke, we reach, on the right, the Quay of the Ripetta, a pretty architectural construction of Clement XI. in 1707.

Hence, a clumsy ferry-boat gives access to a walk which leads to St. Peter's (by Porta Angelica) through the fields at the back of S. Angelo. These fields are of historic interest, being the Prata Quinctia of Cincinnatus.

"L. Quinctius Cincinnatus, the only hope of the Roman people, lived beyond the Tiber, opposite the place where the Navalia are, where he cultivated the four acres of ground which are now called the Quinctian meadows. There the messengers of the senate found him leaning on his spade, either digging a trench or ploughing, but certainly occupied in some field labour. The salutation, 'May it be well with you and the republic,' was given and returned in the usual form, and he was requested to put on his toga to receive a message from the senate. Amazed, and asking if anything was wrong, he desired his wife Racilia to fetch his toga from the cottage, and having wiped off the sweat and dust with which he was covered, he came forward dressed in his toga to the messengers, who saluted him as dictator, and congratulated him."—Livy, iii. 26.

The churches on the left of the Ripetta are, first, SS. Rocco e Martino, built 1657, by Antonio de Rossi, with a hospital adjoining it.

"The lying-in hospital adjoins the Church of San Rocco. It contains seventy beds, furnished with curtains and screens, so as to separate them effectually. Females are admitted without giving their name, their country, or their condition in life; and such is the delicacy observed in their regard, that they are at liberty to wear a veil, so as to remain unknown even to their attendants, in order to save the honour of their families, and prevent abortion, suicide, or infanticide. Even should death ensue, the deceased remains unknown. The children are conveyed to Santo Spirito; and the mother who wishes to retain her offspring, affixes a distinctive mark, by which it may be recognised and recovered. To remove all disquietude from the minds of those who may enter, the establishment is exempt from all civil, criminal, and ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and its threshold is never crossed except by persons connected with the establishment."—Dr. Donovan.

Then, opposite the quay, S. Girolamo degli Schiavoni, built for Sixtus V. by Fontana. It contains, near the altar, a striking figure of St. Jerome, seated, with a book upon his knees.

We will now follow the Corso, which, in spite of its narrowness and bad side-pavements, is the finest street in Rome. It is greatly to be regretted that this street, which is nearly a mile long, should lead to nothing, instead of ending at the steps of the Capitol, which would have produced a striking effect. It follows the line of the ancient Via Flaminia, and in consequence was once spanned by four triumphal arches—of Marcus Aurelius, Domitian, Claudius, and Gordian—but all these have disappeared. The Corso is perfectly lined with balconies, which, during the carnival, are filled with gay groups of maskers flinging confetti. These balconies are a relic of imperial times, having been invented at Rome, where they were originally called "Mœniana," from the tribune Mœnius, who designed them to accommodate spectators of processions in the streets below.

"The Corso is a street a mile long; a street of shops, and palaces, and private houses, sometimes opening into a broad piazza. There are verandahs and balconies, of all shapes and sizes, to almost every house—not on one story alone, but often to one room or another on every story—put there in general with so little order or regularity, that if, year after year, and season after season, it had rained balconies, hailed balconies, snowed balconies, blown balconies, they could scarcely have come into existence in a more disorderly manner."—Dickens.

On the left of the Corso is the Augustine Church of Gesù e Maria, with a façade by Rinaldi. Almost opposite, is the Church of S. Giacomo degli Incurabili, by Carlo Maderno. It is attached to a surgical hospital for 350 patients. In the adjoining Strada S. Giacomo was the studio of Canova, recognizable by fragments of bas-reliefs engrafted in its walls.

Three streets beyond this (on right) is the Via de' Pontefici (so called from a series of papal portraits, now destroyed, which formerly existed on the walls of one of its houses), where (No. 57R) is the entrance to the remains of the Mausoleum of Augustus.

"Hard by the banks of the Tiber, in the grassy meadows where the Roman youths met in athletic and martial exercises, there rose a lofty marble tower with three retiring stages, each of which had its terrace covered with earth and planted with cypresses. These stages were pierced with numerous chambers, destined to receive, row within row, and story upon story, the remains of every member of the imperial family, with many thousands of their slaves and freedmen. In the centre of that massive mound the great founder of the empire was to sleep his last sleep, while his statue was ordained to rise conspicuous on its summit, and satiate its everlasting gaze with the view of his beloved city."—Merivale.

The first funeral here was that of Marcellus, son of Octavia, the sister of Augustus, and first husband of his daughter Julia, who died of malaria at Baiæ, B.C. 23.

"Quantos ille virûm magnam Mavortis ad urbem

Campus aget gemitus! vel quæ, Tiberine, videbis

Funera, cum tumulum præterlabere recentem!

Nec puer Iliacâ quisquam de gente Latinos

In tantum spe tollet avos; nec Romula quondam

Ullo se tantum tellus jactabit alumno.

Heu pietas, heu prisca fides, invictaque bello

Dextera! non illi se quisquam impune tulisset

Obvius armato, seu quum pedes iret in hostem,

Seu spumantis equi foderet calcaribus armos.

Heu, miserande puer! si qua fata aspera rumpas,

Tu Marcellus eris."

Æneid, vi. 873.

The next member of the family buried here was Agrippa, the second husband of Julia, ob. 12 B.C. Then came Octavia, sister of the emperor and widow of Antony, honoured by a public funeral, at which orations were delivered by Augustus himself, and Drusus, son of the empress Livia. Her body was carried to the tomb by Tiberius (afterwards emperor) and Drusus, the two sons of the empress. Drusus (B.C. 9) died in a German campaign by a fall from his horse, and was brought back hither for interment. In A.D. 14 the great Augustus died at Nola, and his body was burnt here on a funeral pile so gigantic, that the widowed Livia, dishevelled and ungirt, with bare feet, attended by the principal Roman senators, had to watch it for five days and nights, before it cooled sufficiently for them to collect the ashes of the emperor. At the moment of its being lighted an eagle was let loose from the summit of the pyre, under which form a senator, named Numerius Atticus, was induced, by a gift from Livia equivalent to 250,000 francs, to swear that he saw the spirit of Augustus fly away to heaven. Then came Germanicus, son of the first Drusus, and nephew of Tiberius, ob. A.D. 19, at Antioch, where he was believed to have been poisoned by Piso and his wife Plancina. Then, in A.D. 23, Drusus, son of Tiberius, poisoned by his wife, Livilla, and her lover, Sejanus: then the empress, Livia, who died A.D. 29, at the age of 86. Agrippina, widow of Germanicus (ob. A.D. 33), starved to death, and her two sons, Nero and Drusus, also murdered by Tiberius, were long excluded from the family sepulchre, but were eventually brought hither by the youngest brother Caius, afterwards the emperor Caligula. Tiberius, who died A.D. 37, at the villa of Lucullus at Misenum, was brought here for burial. The ashes of Caligula, murdered A.D. 41, and first buried in the Horti Lamiani on the Esquiline, were transferred here by his sisters. In his reign, Antonia, the widow of Drusus, and mother of Germanicus, had died, and her ashes were laid up here. The Emperor Claudius, A.D. 54, murdered by Agrippina; his son, Britannicus, A.D. 55, murdered by Nero; and the Emperor Nerva, A.D. 98, were the latest inmates of the mausoleum.

The last cremation which occurred here was long after the mausoleum had fallen into ruin, when the body of the tribune Rienzi, after having hung for two days at S. Marcello, was ordered to be burnt here by Jugurta and Sciaretta, and was consumed by a vast multitude of Jews (out of flattery to the Colonna, their neighbours at the Ghetto), "in a fire of dry thistles, till it was reduced to ashes, and no fibre of it remained."

There is nothing now remaining to testify to the former magnificence of this building. The area is used in summer as an open-air theatre, where very amusing little plays are very well acted. Among its massive cells a poor washerwoman, known as "Sister Rose," established, some ten years ago, a kind of hospital for aged women (several of them centagenarians), whom she supported entirely by her own exertions, having originally begun by taking care of one old woman, and gradually adding another and another. The English church service was first performed in Rome in the Palazzo Correa, adjoining this building.

Opposite the Via de' Pontefici, the Via Vittoria leaves the Corso. To the Ursuline convent in this street (founded by Camilla Borghese in the seventeenth century) Madame Victoire and Madame Adelaide ("tantes du Roi") fled in the beginning of the great French revolution, and here they died.

The Church of S. Carlo in Corso (on right) is the national church of the Lombards. It is a handsome building with a fine dome. The interior was commenced by Lunghi in 1614, and finished by Pietro da Cortona. It contains no objects of interest, unless a picture of the Apotheosis of S. Carlo Borromeo (the patron of the church), over the high altar, by Carlo Maratta, can be called so. The heart of the saint is preserved under the altar.

Just beyond this on the left, the Via Condotti—almost lined with jewellers'-shops—branches off to the Piazza di Spagna. The Trinità de' Monti is seen beyond it. The opposite street, Via Fontanella, leads to St. Peter's, and in five minutes to the magnificent—

Palazzo Borghese, begun in 1590 by Cardinal Deza, from designs of Martino Lunghi, and finished by Paul V. (Camillo Borghese, 1605-21), from those of Flaminio Ponzio. The apartments inhabited by the family are handsome, but contain few objects of interest.

"In the reign of Paul V. the Borghese became the wealthiest and most powerful family in Rome. In the year 1612, the church benefices already conferred upon Cardinal Scipione Borghese were computed to secure him an income of 150,000 scudi. The temporal offices were bestowed on Marc-Antonio Borghese, on whom the pope also conferred the principality of Sulmona in Naples, besides giving him rich palaces in Rome and the most beautiful villas in the neighbourhood. He loaded his nephews with presents; we have a list of them through his whole reign down to the year 1620. They are sometimes jewels or vessels of silver, or magnificent furniture, which was taken directly from the stores of the palace and sent to the nephews; at other times carriages, rich arms, as muskets and falconets, were presented to them; but the principal thing was the round sums of hard money. These accounts make it appear that to the year 1620, they had received in ready money 689,627 scudi, 31 baj; in luoghi di monte, 24,600 scudi, according to their nominal value; in places, computing them at the sum their sale would have brought to the treasury, 268,176 scudi; all which amounted, as in the case of the Aldobrandini, to nearly a million.

"Nor did the Borghese neglect to invest their wealth in real property. They acquired eighty estates in the Campagna of Rome; the Roman nobles suffering themselves to be tempted into the sale of their ancient hereditary domain by the large prices paid them, and by the high rate of interest borne by the luoghi di monte, which they purchased with the money thus acquired. In many other parts of the ecclesiastical states, the Borghese also seated themselves, the pope facilitating their doing so by the grant of peculiar privileges. In some places, for example, they received the right of restoring exiles; in others, that of holding a market, or certain exemptions were granted to those who became their vassals. They were freed from various imposts, and even obtained a bull, by virtue of which their possessions were never to be confiscated."—Ranke, Hist. of the Popes.

"Si l'on peut reprocher à Paul, avec Muratori, ses libéralités envers ses neveux, envers le cardinal Scipion, envers le duc de Sulmone, il est juste d'ajouter que la plupart des membres de cette noble famille rivalisèrent avec le pape de magnificence et de générosité. Or, chaque année, Paul V. distribuait un million d'écus d'or aux pélerins pauvres et un million et demi aux autres nécessiteux. C'est à lui que remonte la fondation de la banque du Saint-Esprit, dont les riches immeubles servirent d'hypothèques aux dépôts qui lui furent confiés. Mais ce fut surtout dans les constructions qu'il entreprit, que Paul V. déploya une royale magnificence."—Gournerie.

"The Palazzo Borghese is an immense edifice standing round the four sides of a quadrangle; and though the suite of rooms, comprising the picture-gallery, forms an almost interminable vista, they occupy only a part of the ground-floor of one side. We enter from the street into a large court surrounded with a corridor, the arches of which support a second series of arches above. The picture-rooms open from one into another, and have many points of magnificence, being large and lofty, with vaulted ceilings and beautiful frescoes, generally of mythological subjects, in the flat central parts of the vault. The cornices are gilded; the deep embrasures of the windows are panelled with wood-work; the doorways are of polished and variegated marble, or covered with a composition as hard, and seemingly as durable. The whole has a kind of splendid shabbiness thrown over it, like a slight coating of rust; the furniture, at least the damask chairs, being a good deal worn; though there are marble and mosaic tables which may serve to adorn another palace, when this has crumbled away with age."—Hawthorne.

The Borghese Picture Gallery is the best private collection in Rome, and is open to the public daily from 9 to 2, except on Saturdays and Sundays. The gallery is entered from the side of the palace towards the Piazza Borghese. It contains several gems, which are here marked with an asterisk; noticeable pictures are:—

1st Room.—Schools of Milan and Perugia.

1. Holy Family: Sandro Botticelli.

2. Holy Family: Lorenzo di Credi.

3. Holy Family: Paris Alfani Perugino.

4. Portrait: Lorenzo di Credi.

5. Vanity: School of Leonardo da Vinci.

27, 28. Petrarch and Laura.

32. St. Agatha: School of Leonardo.

33. The Young Christ: School of Leonardo.

34. Madonna: School of Perugino.

35. Raphael as a boy: Raphael?

43. Madonna: Francesco Francia?

44. Calvario: C. Crivelli.

48. St. Sebastian: Perugino.

49, 57. History of Joseph: Pinturicchio.

59. Presepio: Sketch attributed to Raphael when young.

61. St. Antonio: Francesco Francia.

66. Presepio: Mazzolino.

67. Adoration of the Child Jesus: Ortolano.

68. Christ and St. Thomas: Mazzolino?

69. Holy Family: Pollajuolo.

2nd Room.—Chiefly of the school of Garofalo.

6. Madonna with St. Joseph and St. Michael: Garofalo.

9. The mourners over the dead Christ: Garofalo.*

18. Portrait of Julius II.: Giulio Romano, after Raphael.

22. Portrait of a Cardinal: Bronzino? called Raphael.*

23. 'Madonna col divin' amore': School of Raphael.*

26. Portrait of Cæsar Borgia: Bronzino, attributed to Raphael.*[5]

28. Portrait of a (naked) woman: Bronzino.

36. Holy Family: Andrea del Sarto.

38. Entombment: Raphael.*

This picture was the last work of Raphael before he went to Rome. It was ordered by Atalanta Baglioni for a chapel in S. Francesco de' Conventuali at Perugia. Paul V. bought it for the Borghese. The 'Faith, Hope, and Charity' at the Vatican, formed a predella for this picture.

"Raphael's picture of 'Bearing the Body of Christ to the Sepulchre,' though meriting all its fame in respect of drawing, expression, and knowledge, has lost all signs of reverential feeling in the persons of the bearers. The reduced size of the winding-sheet is to blame for this, by bringing them rudely in contact with their precious burden. Nothing can be finer than their figures, or more satisfactory than their labour, if we forget what it is they are carrying; but it is the weight of the burden only, and not the character of it, which the painter has kept in view, and we feel that the result would have been the same had these figures been carrying a sack of sand. Here, from the youth of the figure, the bearer at the feet appears to be St. John."—Lady Eastlake.

40. Holy Family: Fra Bartolomeo.

43. Madonna: Fr. Francia.

44. Madonna: Sodoma.

51. St. Stephen: Francesco Francia.*

59. Adoration of the Magi: Mazzolino.

60. Presepio: Garofalo.

65. The Fornarina: Copy of Raphael, Giulio Romano?

69. St. John Baptist in the Wilderness: Giulio Romano.

3rd Room.—Chiefly of the school of Andrea del Sarto. (The works of this painter are often confounded with those of his disciple, Domenico Puligo.)

1. Christ bearing the Cross: Andrea Solario.

2. Portrait: Parmigianino.

5. 'Noli me tangere': Bronzino?

11. The Sorceress Circe: Dosso Dossi.

13. Mater Dolorosa: Solario?

22. Holy Family: School of Raphael.

24. Madonna and Child with three children: A. del Sarto.

28. Madonna, Child, and St. John: A. del Sarto.

29. Madonna, Child, St. John, and St. Elizabeth: Pierino del

Vaga.

33. Holy Family: Pierino del Vaga.

35. Venus and Cupids: A. del Sarto.

40. Danae: Correggio.*

In the corner of this picture are the celebrated Cupids sharpening an arrow.

42. Cosmo de' Medici: Bronzino.

46. The Reading Magdalene: School of Correggio.

47. Holy Family: Pomarancio.

48. The Flagellation: Sebastian del Piombo.*

49. St. M. Magdalene: A. del Sarto.

4th Room.—Bolognese school.

1. Entombment: Ann. Carracci.

2. Cumæan Sibyl: Domenichino.*

18. St. Francis: Cigoli.

20. St. Joseph: Guido Reni.

23. St. Francis: Ann. Carracci.

29. St. Domenic: Ann. Carracci.

36. Madonna: Carlo Dolce.

37. Mater Dolorosa: Carlo Dolce.

38, 41. Two heads for an Annunciation: Furino.

42. Head of Christ: Carlo Dolce.

43. Madonna: Sassoferrato.

5th Room.—

11, 12, 13, 14. The Four Seasons: Fr. Albani.

"The Seasons, by Francesco Albani, were, beyond all others, my favourite pieces; the beautiful, joyous, angel-children—the Loves, were as if creations of my own dreams. How deliciously they were staggering about in the picture of Spring! A crowd of them were sharpening arrows, whilst one of them turned round the great grindstone, and two others, floating above, poured water upon it. In Summer, they flew about among the tree-branches, which were loaded with fruit, which they plucked; they swam in the fresh water, and played with it. Autumn brought the pleasures of the chase. Cupid sits, with a torch in his hand, in his little chariot, which two of his companions draw; while Love beckons to the brisk hunter, and shows him the place where they can rest themselves side by side. Winter has lulled all the little ones to sleep; soundly and fast they lie slumbering around. The Nymphs steal their quivers and arrows, which they throw on the fire, that there may be an end of the dangerous weapons."—Andersen, in The Improvisatore.

15. La Caccia di Diana: Domenichino.

25. The Deposition, with Angels: F. Zuccari.

6th Room.—

5. Return of the Prodigal Son: Guercino.

7. Portrait of G. Ghislieri: Pietro da Cortona.

10. St Stanislaus with the Child Jesus: Ribera.*

12. Joseph Interpreting the Dreams in Prison: Valentin.

13. The Three Ages of Man. Copy from Titian by Sassoferrato.[6]

18. Madonna: Sassoferrato.

22. Flight of Æneas from Troy: Baroccio.

7th Room.—Richly decorated with mirrors, painted with Cupids by Girofiri, and wreaths of flowers by Mario di Fiori.

8th Room.—Contains nothing of importance, except a mosaic portrait of Paul V. by Marcello Provenzali.

9th Room.—Containing several interesting frescoes.

1. The Nuptials of Alexander and Roxana.

2. The Nuptials of Vertumnus and Pomona.

3. 'Il Bersaglio dei Dei.'

These three frescoes were brought hither from the Casino of Raphael, in the Villa Borghese (destroyed in the siege of Rome in 1849), and are supposed to have been painted by some of Raphael's pupils from his designs. The other frescoes in this room are by Giulio Romano, and were removed from the Villa Lante, when it was turned into a convent.

10th Room.—

2. Cupid blindfolded by Venus: Titian.

4. Judith: School of Titian.

9. Portrait: Pordenone.

13. David with the head of Goliath: Giorgione.*

14. St. John the Baptist preaching (unfinished): Paul Veronese.

16. St. Domenic: Titian.

19. Portrait: Giac. Bassano.

21. 'Sacred and Profane Love': Titian.*

"Out of Venice there is nothing of Titian's to compare to his Sacred and Profane Love. It represents two figures: one, a heavenly and youthful form, unclothed, except with a light drapery; the other, a lovely female, dressed in the most splendid attire; both are sitting on the brink of a well, into which a little winged Love is groping, apparently to find his lost dart.... Description can give no idea of the consummate beauty of this composition. It has all Titian's matchless warmth of colouring, with a correctness of design no other painter of the Venetian school ever attained. It is nature, but not individual nature: it is ideal beauty in all its perfection, and breathing life in all its truth, that we behold."—Eaton's Rome.

"Two female forms are seated on the edge of a sarcophagus-shaped fountain, the one in a rich Venetian costume, with gloves, flowers in her hands, and a plucked rose beside her, is in deep meditation, as if solving some difficult question. The other is unclothed; a red drapery is falling behind her, while she exhibits a form of the utmost beauty and delicacy; she is turning towards the other figure with the sweetest persuasiveness of expression. A Cupid is playing in the fountain; in the distance is a rich, glowing landscape."—Kugler.

30. Madonna: Giov. Bellini.

34. St. Cosmo and Damian: Venetian School.

11th Room.—Veronese school.

1. Madonna with Adam (?) and St. Augustine: Lorenzo Lotto, MDVIII.

2. St. Anthony preaching to the Fishes: P. Veronese?

3. Madonna: Titian?

11. Venus and Cupid on Dolphins: Luc. Cambiaso.

14. Last Supper: And. Schiavone.

15. Christ and the Mother of Zebedee's Children: Bonifazio.*

16. Return of the Prodigal Son: Bonifazio.*

17. Samson: Titian.

18. Christ and the Woman taken in Adultery: Bonifazio.

19. Madonna and Saints: Palma Vecchio.

In this picture the donors are introduced—the head of the man is grandly devout and beautiful.

25. Portrait of Himself: Titian?

27. Portrait: Giov. Bellini.

31. Madonna and St. Peter: Giov. Bellini.

32. Holy Family: Palma Vecchio.

33. Portrait of the Family of Licini da Pordenone: Bart. Licini da Pordenone.

12th Room.—Dutch and German school.

1. Crucifixion: Vandyke.

7. Entombment: Vandyke.

8. Tavern Scene: Teniers.

9. Interior: Brouerer.

19. Louis VI. of Bavaria: Albert Dürer?

21. Portrait: Holbein.

21. Landscape and Horses: Wouvermann.

22. Cattle-piece: Paul Potter.

24. Portrait: Holbein.

26. Skating (in brown): Berghem.

27. Portrait: Vandyke.

35. Portrait: Lucas von Leyden?

44. Venus and Cupid: Lucas Cranach.

The Palazzetto Borghese on the opposite side of the piazza, originally intended as a dower-house for the family, is now let in apartments. It is this house which is described as the "Palazzo Clementi," in Mademoiselle Mori.

At the corner of the Via Fontanella and the Corso is the handsome Palazzo Ruspoli, built by Ammanati in 1586. It has a grand white marble staircase erected by Lunghi in 1750. Beyond this are the palaces Fiano, Verospi, and Teodoli.

"Les palais de Rome, bien que n'ayant pas un caractère original comme ceux de Florence ou de Venise n'en sont pas moins cependant un des traits de la ville des papes. Ils n'appartiennent ni au moyen age, ni à la renaissance (la Palais de Venise seul rappelle les constructions massives de Florence); ils sont des modèles d'architecture civile moderne. Les Bramante, les Sangallo, les Balthazar Peruzzi, qui les ont batis, sont des maîtres qu'on ne se lasse pas d'étudier. La magnificence de ces palais reside principalement dans leur architecture et dans les collections artistiques que quelques-uns contiennent. Un certain nombre sont malheureusement dans un triste état d'abandon. De plus, à l'exception d'un très petit nombre, ils sont restés inachevés. Cela se conçoit; presque tous sont le produit du luxe célibataire des papes ou des cardinaux; très-peu de ces personages ont pu voir la fin de ce qu'ils avaient commencé. Leurs heritiers, pour le plupart, se souciaient fort peu de jeter les richesses qu'ils venaient d'acquerir dans les édifices de luxe et de vanité. A l'intérieur, le plus souvent, est un mobilier rare, suranné, et mesquin."—A. Du Pays.[7]

The Palazzo Bernini (151 Corso), on the left, has, inside its entrance, a curious statue of "Calumny" by Bernini, with an inscription relative to his own sufferings from slander.

On the right, the small piazza of S. Lorenzo opens out of the Corso. Here is the Church of S. Lorenzo in Lucina, founded in the fifth century, but rebuilt in its present form by Paul V. in 1606. The campanile is of an older date, and so are the lions in the portico.

"When the lion, or other wild beast, appears in the act of preying on a smaller animal or on a man, is implied the severity of the Church towards the impenitent or heretical; but when in the act of sporting with another creature, her benignity towards the neophyte and the docile. At the portal of St Lorenzo in Lucina, this idea is carried out in the figure of a mannikin affectionately stroking the head of the terrible creature who protects, instead of devouring him."—Hemans' Christian Art.

No one should omit seeing the grand picture of Guido Reni, over the high altar of this church,—the Crucifixion, seen against a wild, stormy sky. Niccolas Poussin, ob. 1660, is buried here, and one of his best known Arcadian landscapes is reproduced in a bas-relief upon his tomb, which was erected by Chateaubriand, with the epitaph,—

"Parce piis lacrymis, vivit Pussinus in urnâ,

Vivus qui dederat, nescius ipse mori.

Hîc tamen ipse silet; si vis audire loquentem,

Mirum est, in tabulis vivit, et eloquitur."

In "The Ring and the Book" of Browning, this church is the scene of Pompilia's baptism and marriage. She is made to say:—

—"This St. Lorenzo seems

My own particular place, I always say.

I used to wonder, when I stood scarce high

As the bed here, what the marble lion meant,

Eating the figure of a prostrate man."

Here the bodies of her parents are represented as being exposed after the murder:

—"beneath the piece

Of Master Guido Reni, Christ on Cross,

Second to nought observable in Rome."

On the left, where the Via della Vite turns out of the Corso, an inscription in the wall records the destruction, in 1665, of the triumphal arch of Marcus Aurelius, which existed here till that time. The magnificence of this arch is attested by the bas-reliefs representing the history of the emperor, which were removed from it, and are preserved on the staircase of the palace of the Conservators.

"Les Barbares n'en savaient pas assez et n'avaient pas assez de patience pour démolir les monuments romains; mais, avec les ressources de la science moderne et à la suite d'une administration régulière, on est venu à bout de presque tout ce que le temps avait épargné. Il y'avait, par exemple, au commencement du XVIe. siècle, quatre arcs de triomphe qui n'existent plus; le dernier, celui de Marc Aurele, a été enlevé par le pape Alexandre VII. On lit encore dans le Corso l'inconcevable inscription dans laquelle le pape se vante d'avoir debarrassé la promenade publique de ce monument, qui, vu sa date, devait être d'un beau style."—Ampère, Voyage Dantesque.

A little further down the Corso, on the left, the Via delle Convertite leads to S. Sylvestro in Capite, one of three churches in Rome dedicated to the sainted pope of the time of Constantine. This, like S. Lorenzo, has a fine mediæval campanile. The day of St. Sylvester's death, December 31 (A.D. 335), is kept here with great solemnity, and is celebrated by magnificent musical services. This pope was buried in the cemetery of Priscilla, whence his remains were removed to S. Martino al Monte. The title "In Capite" is given to this church on account of the head of St John Baptist, which it professes to possess, as is narrated by an inscription engrafted into its walls.

The convent attached to this church was founded in 1318, especially for noble sisters of the house of Colonna who dedicated themselves to God. Here it was that the celebrated Vittoria Colonna, Marchesa di Pescara, came to reside in 1525, when widowed in her thirty-sixth year, and here she began to write her sonnets, a kind of "In Memoriam," to her husband. It is a curious proof of the value placed upon her remaining in the world, that Pope Clement VII. was persuaded to send a brief to the abbess and nuns, desiring them to offer her "all spiritual and temporal consolations," but forbidding them, under pain of the greater excommunication, to permit her to take the veil in her affliction.[8]

At the end of this street, continued under the name of Via de Mercede (No. 11 was the residence of Bernini), and behind the Propaganda, is the Church of S. Andrea delle Fratte, whose brick cupola by Borromini is so picturesque a feature. The bell-tower beside it swings when the bells are rung. In the second chapel on the right is the beautiful modern tomb of Mademoiselle Julie Falconnet, by Miss Hosmer. The opposite chapel is remarkable for a modern miracle (?) annually commemorated here.

"M. Ratisbonne, un juif, appartenant à une très-riche famille d'Alsace, qui se trouvait accidentellement à Rome, se promenant dans l'église de S. Andrea delle Fratte pendant qu'on y faisait les préparatifs pour les obsèques de M. de la Ferronays, s'y est converti subitement. Il se trouvait debout en face d'une chapelle dédiée à l'ange gardien, à quelques pas, lorsque tout-à-coup il a eu une apparition lumineuse de la Sainte Vierge qui lui a fait signe d'aller vers cette chapelle. Une force irrésistible l'y a entraíné, il y est tombé à genoux, et il a été à l'instant chrétien. Sa première parole à celui qui l'avait accompagné a été, en relevant son visage inondé de larmes: 'Il faut que ce monsieur ait beaucoup prié pour moi.'"—Récit d'une Sœur.

"Era un istante ch'io mi stava in chiesa allora che di colpo mi sentii preso da inesprimibile conturbamento. Alzai gli occhi; tutto l'edifizio s'era dileguato a' miei sguardi; sola una cappella aveva come in se raccolta tutta la luce, e di mezzo di raggianti splendori s' è mostrata diritta sull'altare, grande, sfolgoreggiante, piena di maestà, e di dolcezza, la Vergine Maria. Una forza irresistibile m'ha sospinto verso di lei. La Vergine m'ha fatto della mano segno d'inginocchiarmi; pareva volermi dire, 'Bene!' Ella non mi ha parlato ma io ho inteso tutto."—Recital of Alfonse Ratisbonne.[9]

M. de la Ferronays, whose character is now so well known from the beautiful family memoirs of Mrs. Augustus Craven, is buried beneath the altar where this vision occurred. In the third chapel on the left is the tomb of Angelica Kauffmann; in the right aisle that of the Prussian artist, Schadow. The two angels in front of the choir are by Bernini, who intended them for the bridge of S. Angelo.

Returning to the Corso, the Via S. Claudio (left) leads to the pretty little church of that name, adjoining the Palazzo Parisani. Behind, is the Church of Sta. Maria in Via.

At the corner of the Piazza Colonna is the Palazzo Chigi, begun in 1526 by Giacomo della Porta, and finished by Carlo Maderno. It contains several good pictures and a fine library, but is seldom shown.[10]

The most remarkable members of the great family of Chigi have been the famous banker Agostino Chigi, who lived so sumptuously at the Farnesina (see chap. 20), and Fabio Chigi, who mounted the papal throne as Alexander VII., and who long refused to have anything to do with the aggrandisement of his family, saying that the poor were the only relations he would acknowledge, and, like Christ, he did not wish for any nearer ones. To keep himself in mind of the shortness of earthly grandeur, this pope always kept a coffin in his room, and drank out of a cup shaped like a skull.

The side of the Piazza Colonna, which faces the Corso, is occupied by the Post-Office. On its other sides are the Piombino and Ferrajuoli palaces, of no interest. In the centre is placed the fine Column, which was found on the Monte Citorio in 1709, having been originally erected by the senate and people A.D. 174, to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (adopted son of the Emperor Hadrian,—husband of his niece, Annia Faustina,—father of the Emperor Commodus). It is surrounded by bas-reliefs, representing the conquest of the Marcomanni. One of these has long been an especial object of interest, from being supposed to represent a divinity (Jupiter?) sending rain to the troops, in answer to the prayers of a Christian legion from Mitylene. Eusebius gives the story, stating that the piety of these Christians induced the emperor to ask their prayers in his necessity, and a letter in Justin Martyr (of which the authenticity is much doubted), in which Aurelius allows the fact, is produced in proof. The statue of St. Paul on the top of the column was erected by Sixtus V.; the pedestal also is modern.

Behind the Piazza Colonna is the Piazza Monte Citorio, containing an Obelisk which was discovered in broken fragments near the Church of S. Lorenzo in Lucina. It was repaired with pieces of the column of Antoninus Pius, the pedestal of which may still be seen in the Vatican garden. Its hieroglyphics are very perfect and valuable, and show that it was erected more than 600 years before Christ, in honour of Psammeticus I. It was brought from Heliopolis by Augustus, and erected by him in the Campus Martius, where it received the name of Obeliscus Solaris, from being made to act as a sun-dial.

"Ei, qui est in campo, divus Augustus addidit mirabilem usum ad deprehendendas solis umbras, dierumque ac noctium ita magnitudines, strato lapide ad magnitudinem obelisci, cui par fieret umbra, brumæ confectæ die, sexta hora; paulatimque per regulas (quæ sunt ex die exclusæ) singulis diebus decresceret ac rursus augesceret: digna cognitu res et ingenio fœcundo. Manilius mathematicus apici auratam pilam addidit, cujus umbra vertice colligeretur in se ipsa alias enormiter jaculante apice ratione (ut ferunt) a capite hominis intellecta. Hæc observatio triginta jam ferè annos non congruit, sive solis ipsius dissono cursu, et cœli aliqua ratione mutato, sive universa tellure a centra suo aliquid emota ut deprehendi et in aliis locis accipio: sive urbis tremoribus ibi tantum gnomone intorto, sive inundationibus Tiberis sedimento molis facto: quanquam ad altitudinem impositi oneris in terram quoque dicantur acta fundamenta."—Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. xxxiv. 14.

The Palace of the Monte Citorio (designed by Bernini) contains public offices connected with police, passports, &c. On the opposite side of the piazza are the Railway and Telegraph Offices.

Proceeding up the Corso, the Via di Pietra (right) leads into the small Piazza di Pietra, one side of which is occupied by the eleven remaining columns of the Temple of Neptune, built up by Innocent XII. into the walls of the modern Custom-house. It is worth while to enter the courtyard in order to look back and observe the immense masses of stone above the entrance, part of the ancient temple,—which are here uncovered.

Close to this, behind the Palazzo Cini, in the Piazza Orfanelli, is the Teatro Capranica, occupying part of a palace of c. 1350, with gothic windows. The opposite church, Sta. Maria in Aquiro, recalls by its name the column of the Equiria, celebrated in ancient annals as the place where certain games and horse-races, instituted by Romulus, were celebrated. Ovid describes them in his Fasti. The church was founded c. 400, but was re-built under Francesco da Volterra in 1590.

A small increase of width in the Corso is now dignified by the name of the Piazza Sciarra. The street which turns off hence, under an arch (Via de Muratte, on the left), leads to the Fountain of Trevi, erected in 1735 by Niccolo Salvi for Clement XII. The statue of Neptune is by Pietro Bracci.

"The fountain of Trevi draws its precious water from a source far beyond the walls, whence it flows hitherward through old subterranean aqueducts, and sparkles forth as pure as the virgin who first led Agrippa to its well-springs by her father's door. In the design of the fountain, some sculptor of Bernini's school has gone absolutely mad, in marble. It is a great palace-front, with niches and many bas-reliefs, out of which looks Agrippa's legendary virgin, and several of the allegoric sisterhood; while at the base appears Neptune with his floundering steeds and tritons blowing their horns about him, and twenty other artificial fantasies, which the calm moonlight soothes into better taste than is native to them. And, after all, it is as magnificent a piece of work as ever human skill contrived. At the foot of the palatial façade, is strown, with careful art and ordered regularity, a broad and broken heap of massive rock, looking as if it may have lain there since the deluge. Over a central precipice falls the water, in a semicircular cascade; and from a hundred crevices, on all sides, snowy jets gush up, and streams spout out of the mouths and nostrils of stone monsters, and fall in glistening drops; while other rivulets, that have run wild, come leaping from one rude step to another, over stones that are mossy, shining and green with sedge, because, in a century of their wild play, nature has adopted the fountain of Trevi, with all its elaborate devices, for her own. Finally the water, tumbling, sparkling, and dashing with joyous haste and never ceasing murmur, pours itself into a great marble basin and reservoir, and fills it with a quivering tide; on which is seen, continually, a snowy semi-circle of momentary foam from the principal cascade, as well as a multitude of snow-points from smaller jets. The basin, occupies the whole breadth of the piazza, whence flights of steps descend to its border. A boat might float, and make mimic voyages, on this artificial lake.

"In the daytime there is hardly a livelier scene in Rome than the neighbourhood of the fountain of Trevi; for the piazza is then filled with stalls of vegetable and fruit dealers, chestnut-roasters, cigar-vendors, and other people whose petty and wandering traffic is transacted in the open air. It is likewise thronged with idlers, lounging over the iron railing, and with forestieri, who come hither to see the famous fountain. Here, also, are men with buckets, urchins with cans, and maidens (a picture as old as the patriarchal times) bearing their pitchers upon their heads. For the water of Trevi is in request, far and wide, as the most refreshing draught for feverish lips, the pleasantest to mingle with wine, and the wholesomest to drink in its native purity, that can anywhere be found. But, at midnight, the piazza is a solitude; and it is a delight to behold this untameable water, sporting by itself in the moonshine, and compelling all the elaborate trivialities of art to assume a natural aspect, in accordance with its own powerful simplicity. Tradition goes, that a parting draught at the fountain of Trevi ensures a traveller's return to Rome, whatever obstacles and improbabilities may seem to beset him."—Hawthorne's Transformation.

"Le bas-relief, placé au-dessus de cette fontaine, représente la jeune fille indiquant la source précieuse, comme dans l'antiquité une peinture représentait le même évènement dans une chapelle construite au lieu où il s'était passé."—Ampère, Emp. i. 264.

In this piazza is the rather handsome front of Sta. Maria in Trivia, formerly Sta. Maria in Fornica, erected by Cardinal Mazarin, on the site of an older church built by Belisarius—as is told by an inscription:—

"Hanc vir patricius Belisarius urbis amicus

Ob culpæ veniam condidit ecclesiam.

Hanc, idcirco, pedem qui sacram ponis in ædem

Ut miseretur eum sæpe precare Deum."

The fault which Belisarius wished to expiate, was the exile of Pope Sylverius (A.D. 536), who was starved to death in the island of Ponza. The crypt of the present building, being the parish church of the Quirinal, contains the entrails of twenty popes (removed for embalmment)—from Sixtus V. to Pius VIII.—who died in the Quirinal Palace!

The little church near the opposite corner of the piazza is that of The Crociferi, and is still (1870) served by the Venerable Don Giovanni Merlini, Father General of the Order of the Precious Blood, and the personal friend of its founder, Gaspare del Buffalo.

The Fountain of Trevi occupies one end of the gigantic Palazzo Poli, which contains the English consulate. At the other end is the shop of the famous jeweller, Castellani, well worth visiting, for the sake of its beautiful collection of Etruscan designs, both in jewellery and in larger works of art.

"Castellani est l'homme qui a ressuscité la bijouterie romaine. Son escalier, tapissé d'inscriptions et de bas-reliefs antiques, fait croire que nous entrons dans un musée. Un jeune marchand aussi érudit que les archéologues fait voir une collection de bijoux anciens de toutes les époques, depuis les origines de l'Etrurie jusqu'au siècle de Constantin. C'est la source où Castellani puise les éléments d'un art nouveau qui détrônera avant dix ans la pacotille du Palais-Royal."—About, Rome Contemporaine.

"C'est en s'inspirant des parures retrouvées dans les tombes de l'Etrurie, des bracelets et des colliers dont se paraient les femmes étrusques et sabines, que M. Castellani, guidé par le goût savant et ingénieux d'un homme qui porte dignement l'ancien nom de Caetani, a introduit dans la bijouterie un style à la fois classique et nouveau. Parmi les artistes les plus originaux de Rome sont certainement les orfèvres Castellani et D. Miguele Caetani, duc de Sermoneta."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. i. 388.

The Palazzo Sciarra (on left of the Corso), built in 1603 by Labacco, contains a gallery of pictures. Its six celebrated gems are marked with an asterisk. We may notice:—

1st Room.—

5. Death of St. John Baptist: Valentin.

13. Holy Family: Innocenza da Imola.

15. Rome Triumphant: Valentin.

20. Madonna: Titian.

23. Sta. Francesca Romana: Carlo Veneziano.

2nd Room.—

17. Flight into Egypt: Claude Lorrain.

18. Sunset: Claude Lorrain.

3rd Room.—

6. Holy Family: Francia.

9. Boar Hunt: Garofalo.

11. Holy Family: Andrea del Sarto.

17. A Monk led by an Angel to the Heavenly Spheres: Gaudenzio

Ferrari.

26. The Vestal Claudia drawing a boat with the statue of Ceres up

the Tiber: Garofalo.

29. Tavern Scene: Teniers.

33. The Fornarina: Copy of Raphael by Giulio Romano.

36. Holy Family with Angels: Lucas Cranach, 1504.

4th Room.—

1. Holy Family: Fra Bartolomeo.*

"The glow and freshness of colouring in this admirable painting, the softness of the skin, the beauty and sweetness of the expression, the look with which the mother's eyes are bent upon the baby she holds in her arms, and the innocent fondness with which the other child gazes up in her face, are worthy of the painter whose works Raphael delighted to study, and from which, in a great measure, he formed his principles of colouring."—Eaton's Rome.

5. St. John the Evangelist: Guercino.

6. The Violin Player (Andrea Marone?): Raphael.*

"The Violin Player is a youth holding the bow of a violin and a laurel wreath in his hand, and looking at the spectators over his shoulder. The expression of his countenance is sensible and decided, and betokens a character alive to the impressions of sense, yet severe. The execution is excellent,—inscribed with the date 1518."—Kugler.

7. St. Mark: Guercino.

8. Daughter of Herodias: Guercino.

12. Conjugal Love: Agostino Caracci.

16. The Gamblers: Caravaggio.*

"This is a masterpiece of the painter. A sharper is playing at cards with a youth of family and fortune, whom his confederate, while pretending to be looking on, is assisting to cheat. The subject will remind you of the Flemish School, but this painting bears no resemblance to it. Here is no farce, no caricature. Character was never more strongly marked, nor a tale more inimitably told. It is life itself, and you almost forget it is a picture, and expect to see the game go on. The colouring is beyond all praise."—Eaton's Rome.

17. Modesty and Vanity: Leonardo da Vinci.*

"One of Leonardo's most beautiful pictures is in Rome, in the Sciarra Palace—two female half-figures of Modesty and Vanity. The former, with a veil over her head, is a particularly pleasing, noble profile, with a clear, open expression; she beckons to her sister, who stands fronting the spectator, beautifully arrayed, and with a sweet seducing smile. This picture is remarkably powerful in colouring, and wonderfully finished, but unfortunately has become rather dark in the shadows."—Kugler.

19. Magdalen: Guido Reni.

24. Family Portrait: Titian.

25. Portrait: Bronzino.

26. St. Sebastian: Perugino.

29. Bella Donna: Titian.*

Sometimes supposed to represent Donna Laura Eustachio, the peasant Duchess of Alphonso I. of Ferrara.

"When Titian or Tintoret look at a human being, they see at a glance the whole of its nature, outside and in; all that it has of form, of colour, of passion, or of thought; saintliness and loveliness; fleshly power, and spiritual power; grace, or strength, or softness, or whatsoever other quality, those men will see to the full, and so paint, that, when narrower people come to look at what they have done, every one may, if he chooses, find his own special pleasure in the work. The sensualist will find sensuality in Titian; the thinker will find thought; the saint, sanctity; the colourist, colour; the anatomist, form; and yet the picture will never be a popular one in the full sense, for none of these narrower people will find their special taste so alone consulted, as that the qualities which would ensure their gratification shall be sifted or separated from others; they are checked by the presence of the other qualities, which ensure the gratification of other men.... Only there is a strange undercurrent of everlasting murmur about the name of Titian, which means the deep consent of all great men that he is greater than they."—Ruskin's Two Paths, Lect. 2.

31. Death of the Virgin: Albert Durer.

32. Maddalena della Radice: Guido Reni.*

"The two Magdalens by Guido are almost duplicates, and yet one is incomparably superior to the other. She is reclining on a rock, and her tearful and uplifted eyes, the whole of her countenance and attitude, speak the overwhelming sorrow that penetrates her soul. Her face might charm the heart of a stoic; and the contrast of her youth and enchanting loveliness, with the abandonment of grief, the resignation of all earthly hope, and the entire devotion of herself to penitence and heaven, is most affecting."—Eaton's Rome.[11]

Near the Piazza Sciarra, the Corso (as Via Flaminia) was formerly spanned by the Arch of Claudius, removed in 1527. Some reliefs from this arch are preserved in the portico of the Villa Borghese, and though much mutilated are of fine workmanship. The inscription, which commemorated the erection of the arch in honour of the conquest of Britain, is preserved in the courtyard of the Barberini Palace.

On the right of the Piazza Sciarra is the Via della Caravita, containing the small but popular Church of the Caravita,[12] used for the peculiar religious exercises of the Jesuits, especially for their terrible Lenten "flagellation" services, which are one of the most extraordinary sights afforded by Catholic Rome.

"The ceremony of pious whippings, one of the penances of the convents, still takes place at the time of vespers in the oratory of the Padre Caravita and in another church in Rome. It is preceded by a short exhortation, during which a bell rings, and whips, that is, strings of knotted whipcord, are distributed quietly amongst such of the audience as are on their knees in the nave. On a second bell, the candles are extinguished—a loud voice issues from the altar, which pours forth an exhortation to think of unconfessed, or unrepented, or unforgiven crimes. This continues a sufficient time to allow the kneelers to strip off their upper garments; the tone of the preacher is raised more loudly at each word, and he vehemently exhorts his hearers to recollect that Christ and the martyrs suffered much more than whipping. 'Show, then, your penitence—show your sense of Christ's sacrifice—show it with the whip.' The flagellation begins. The darkness, the tumultuous sound of blows in every direction—'Blessed Virgin Mary, pray for us!' bursting out at intervals,—the persuasion that you are surrounded by atrocious culprits and maniacs, who know of an absolution for every crime—so far from exciting a smile, fixes you to the spot in a trance of restless horror, prolonged beyond bearing. The scourging continues ten or fifteen minutes."—Lord Broughton.

"Each man on entering the church was supplied with a scourge. After a short interval the doors were barred, the lights extinguished; and from praying, the congregation proceeded to groaning, crying, and finally, being worked up into a kind of ecstatic fury, applied the scourge to their uncovered shoulders without mercy."—Whiteside's Italy in the Nineteenth Century.

Beyond the Caravita is the Church of S. Ignazio, built by Cardinal Ludovisi. The façade, of 1685, is by Algardi. It contains the tomb of Gregory XIV. (Nicolo Sfondrati, 1590—91), and that of S. Ludovico Gonzaga, both sculptured by Le Gros.

"In S. Ignazio is the chapel of San Luigi Gonzaga, on whom not a few of the young Roman damsels look with something of the same kind of admiration as did Clytie on Apollo, whom he and St. Sebastian, those two young, beautiful, graceful saints, very fairly represent in Christian mythology. His festa falls in June, and then his altar is embosomed in flowers, arranged with exquisite taste; and a pile of letters may be seen at its foot, written to the saint by young men and maidens, and directed to Paradiso. They are supposed to be burnt unread, except by San Luigi, who must find singular petitions in these pretty little missives, tied up now with a green ribbon, expressive of hope, now with a red one, emblematic of love, or whatever other significant colour the writer may prefer."—Mademoiselle Mori.

The frescoes on the roof and tribune are by the Padre Pozzi.

"Amid the many distinguished men whom the Jesuits sent forth to every region of the world, I cannot recollect the name of a single artist unless it be the Father Pozzi, renowned for his skill in perspective, and who used his skill less as an artist than a conjuror, to produce such illusions as make the vulgar stare; to make the impalpable to the grasp appear as palpable to the vision; the near seem distant, the distant near; the unreal, real; to cheat the eye; to dazzle the sense;—all this has Father Pozzi most cunningly achieved in the Gesù and the Sant' Ignazio at Rome; but nothing more, and nothing better than this. I wearied of his altar-pieces and of his wonderful roofs which pretend to be no roofs at all. Scheme, tricks, and deceptions in art should all be kept for the theatre. It appeared to me nothing less than profane to introduce shams into the temples of God."—Mrs. Jameson.

On the left of the Corso—opposite the handsome Palazzo Simonetti—is the Church of S. Marcello (Pope, 308—10), containing some interesting modern monuments. Among them are those of Pierre Gilles, the traveller (ob. 1555), and of the English Cardinal Weld. Here, also, Cardinal Gonsalvi, the famous and liberal minister of Pius VII., is buried in the same tomb with his beloved younger brother, the Marchese Andrea Gonsalvi. Their monument, by Rinaldi, tells that here repose the bodies of two brothers—

"Qui cum singulari amore dum vivebant

Se mutuo dilexissent

Corpora etiam sua

Una eademque urna condi voluere."

Here are the masterpieces which made the reputation of Pierino del Vaga (1501—1547). In the chapel of the Virgin are the cherubs, whose graceful movements and exquisite flesh-tints Vasari declares to have been unsurpassed by any artist in fresco. In the chapel of the Crucifix is the Creation of Eve, which is even more beautiful.

"The perfectly beautiful figure of the naked Adam is seen lying, overpowered by sleep, while Eve, filled with life, and with folded hands, rises to receive the blessing of her Maker,—a most grand and solemn figure standing erect in heavy drapery."—Vasari, iv.

This church is said to occupy the site of a house of the Christian matron Lucina, in which Marcellus died of wounds incurred in attempting to settle a quarrel among his Christian followers. It was in front of it that the body of the tribune Rienzi, after his murder on the Capitol steps, was hung up by the feet for two days as a mark for the rabble to throw stones at.

The next street to the right leads to the Collegio Romano, founded by St. Francis Borgia, Duke of Gandia (a descendant of Pope Alexander VI.), who, after a youth spent amid the splendours of the court of Madrid, retired to Rome in 1550, in the time of Julius III., and became the successor of Ignatius Loyola as general of the Jesuits. The buildings were erected, as we now see them, by Ammanati, in 1582, for Gregory XIII. The college is entirely under the superintendence of the Jesuits. The library is large and valuable. The Kircherian Museum (shown to gentlemen from ten to eleven on Sundays) is worth visiting. It contains a number of antiquities, illustrative of Roman and Etruscan customs, and many beautiful ancient bronzes and vases. The most important object is the "Cista Mistica," a bronze vase and cover, which was given as a prize to successful gladiators, and which was originally fitted up with everything useful for their profession.

The Observatory of the Collegio Romano has obtained a European reputation from the important astronomical researches of its director, the Padre Secchi.

The Collegio Romano has produced eight popes—Urban VIII., Innocent X., Clement IX., Clement X., Innocent XII., Clement XI., Innocent XIII., and Clement XII. Among its other pupils have been S. Camillo de Lellis, the Blessed Leonardo di Porto-Maurizio, the Venerable Pietro Berna, and others.

"Ignace, François Borgia, ont passé par ici. Leur souvenir plane, comme un encouragement et une bénédiction, sur ces salles où ils présidèrent aux études, sur ces chaires où peut-être retentit leur parole, sur ces modestes cellules qu'ils ont habitées. A la fin du seizième siècle, les élèves du collége Romain perdirent un de leurs condisciples que sa douce aménité et ses vertus angéliques avaient rendu l'objet d'un affectueux respect. Ce jeune homme avait été page de Philippe II.; il était allié aux maisons royales d'Autriche, de Bourbon et de Lorraine. Mais au milieu de ces illusions d'une grande vie, sous ce brillant costume de cour qui semblait lui promettre honneurs et fortune, il ne voyait jamais que la pieuse figure de sa mère agenouillée au pied des autels, et priant pour lui. A peine âgé de seize ans, il s'échappe de Madrid, il vient frapper à la porte du collége Romain, et demande place, au dortoir et à l'étude, pour Louis Gonzague, fils du comte de Castiglione. Pendant sept ans, Louis donna dans cette maison le touchant exemple d'une vie céleste; puis ses jours déclinèrent, comme parle l'Ecriture; il avait assez vécu."—Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne, ii. 211.

We now reach (on right) the Church of Sta. Maria in Via Lata, which was founded by Sergius I., in the eighth century, but twice rebuilt, the second time under Alexander VII., in 1662, when the façade was added by Pietro da Cortona.

In this church "they still show a little chapel in which, as hath been handed down from the first ages, St. Luke the Evangelist wrote, and painted the effigy of the Virgin Mother of God."—See Jameson's Sacred Art, p. 155.

The subterranean church is shown as the actual house in which St. Paul lodged when he was in Rome.

"And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him."

"And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening." ...

"And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him."—Acts xxviii. 16, 23, 30, 31.

"St. Paul after his arrival at Rome, having made his usual effort, in the first place, for the salvation of his own countrymen, and as usual, having found it vain, turned to the Gentiles, and during two whole years, in which he was a prisoner, received all that came to him, preaching the kingdom of God. It was thus that God overruled his imprisonment for the furtherance of the gospel, so that his bonds in Christ were manifest in the palace, and in all other places, and many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by his bonds, were much more bold to speak the word without fear. Even in the palace of Nero, the most noxious atmosphere, as we should have concluded, for the growth of divine truth, his bonds were manifest, the Lord Jesus was preached, and, more than this, was received to the saving of many souls; for we find the Apostle writing to his Philippian converts: 'All the saints salute you, chiefly they which are of Cæsar's household.' The whole Church of Christ has abundant reason to bless God for the dispensation which, during the most matured period of St. Paul's Christian life, detained him a close prisoner in the imperial city. Had he, to the end of his course, been at large, occupied, as he had long been, 'in labours most abundant,' he would, humanly speaking, never have found time to pen those epistles which are among the most blessed portion of the Church's inheritance. It was from within the walls of a prison, probably chained hand to hand to the soldier who kept him, that St. Paul indited the Epistles to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Hebrews."—Blunt's Lectures on St. Paul.

"In writing to Philemon, Paul chooses to speak of himself as the captive of Jesus Christ. Yet he went whither he would, and was free to receive those who came to him. It is interesting to remember amid these solemn vaults, the different events of St. Paul's apostolate, during the two years that he lived here. It was here that he converted Onesimus, that he received the presents of the Philippians, brought by Epaphroditus; it was hence that he wrote to Philemon, to Titus, to the inhabitants of Philippi and of Colosse; it was here that he preached devotion to the cross with that glowing eagerness, with that startling eloquence, which gained fresh power from contest and which inspiration rendered sublime.

"Peter addressed himself to the Circumcised; Paul to the Gentiles,[13]—to their silence that he might confound it, to their reason that he might humble it. Had he not already converted the proconsul Sergius Paulus and Dionysius the Areopagite? At Rome his word is equally powerful, and among the courtiers of Nero, perhaps even amongst his relations, are those who yield to the power of God, who reveals himself in each of the teachings of his servant.[14] Around the Apostle his eager disciples group themselves—Onesiphorus of Ephesus, who was not ashamed of his chain;[15] Epaphras of Colosse, who was captive with him, concaptivus meus;[16] Timothy, who was one with his master in a holy union of every thought, and who was attached to him like a son, sicut patri filius;[17] Hermas, Aristarchus, Marcus, Demas—and Luke the physician, the faithful companion of the Apostle, his well-beloved disciple—'Lucas medicus carissimus.'"—From Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne.

"I honour Rome for this reason; for though I could celebrate her praises on many other accounts—for her greatness, for her beauty, for her power, for her wealth, and for her warlike exploits,—yet, passing over all these things, I glorify her on this account, that Paul in his lifetime wrote to the Romans, and loved them, and was present with and conversed with them, and ended his life amongst them. Wherefore the city is on this account renowned more than on all others—on this account I admire her, not on account of her gold, her columns, or her other splendid decorations."—St. John Chrysostom, Homily on the Ep. to the Romans.

"The Roman Jews expressed a wish to hear from St. Paul himself a statement of his religious sentiments, adding that the Christian sect was everywhere spoken against.... A day was fixed for the meeting at his private lodging.

"The Jews came in great numbers at the appointed time. Then followed an impressive scene, like that at Troas (Acts xxi.)—the Apostle pleading long and earnestly,—bearing testimony concerning the kingdom of God,—and endeavouring to persuade them by arguments drawn from their own Scriptures,—'from morning till evening.' The result was a division among the auditors—'not peace, but a sword,'—the division which has resulted ever since, when the Truth of God has encountered, side by side, earnest conviction with worldly indifference, honest investigation with bigoted prejudice, trustful faith with the pride of scepticism. After a long and stormy discussion, the unbelieving portion departed; but not until St. Paul had warned them, in one last address, that they were bringing upon themselves that awful doom of judicial blindness, which was denounced in their own Scriptures against obstinate unbelievers; that the salvation which they rejected would be withdrawn from them, and the inheritance they renounced would be given to the Gentiles. The sentence with which he gave emphasis to this solemn warning was that passage in Isaiah, which recurring thus with solemn force at the very close of the Apostolic history, seems to bring very strikingly together the Old Dispensation and the New, and to connect the ministry of Our Lord with that of His Apostles:—'Go unto this people and say: Hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive: for the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.'

" ... During the long delay of his trial St. Paul was not reduced, as he had been at Cæsarea, to a forced inactivity. On the contrary, he was permitted the freest intercourse with his friends, and was allowed to reside in a house of sufficient size to accommodate the congregation which flocked together to listen to his teaching. The freest scope was given to his labours, consistent with the military custody under which he was placed. We are told, in language peculiarly emphatic, that his preaching was subjected to no restraint whatever. And that which seemed at first to impede, must really have deepened the impression of his eloquence; for who could see without emotion that venerable form subjected by iron links to the coarse control of the soldier who stood beside him? how often must the tears of the assembly have been called forth by the upraising of that fettered hand, and the clanking of the chain which checked its energetic action.

"We shall see hereafter that these labours of the imprisoned Confessor were not fruitless; in his own words, he 'begot many children in his chains.' Meanwhile, he had a wider sphere of action than even the metropolis of the world. Not only 'the crowd which pressed upon him daily,' but also 'the care of all the churches' demanded his constant vigilance and exertion.... To enable him to maintain this superintendence, he manifestly needed many faithful messengers; men who (as he says of one of them) 'rendered him profitable service'; and by some of whom he seems to have been constantly accompanied, wheresoever he went. Accordingly we find him, during this Roman imprisonment, surrounded by many of his oldest and most valued attendants. Luke, his fellow-traveller, remained with him during his bondage; Timotheus, his beloved son in the faith, ministered to him at Rome, as he had done in Asia, in Macedonia, and in Achaia. Tychicus, who had formerly borne him company from Corinth to Ephesus, is now at hand to carry his letters to the shores which they had visited together. But there are two names amongst his Roman companions which excite a peculiar interest, though from opposite reasons,—the names of Demas and of Mark. The latter, when last we heard of him, was the unhappy cause of the separation of Barnabas and Paul. He was rejected by Paul, as unworthy to attend him, because he had previously abandoned the work of the Gospel out of timidity or indolence. It is delightful to find him now ministering obediently to the very Apostle who had then repudiated his services; still more to know that he persevered in this fidelity even to the end, and was sent for by St. Paul to cheer his dying hours. Demas, on the other hand, is now a faithful 'fellow-labourer' of the Apostle but in a few years we shall find that he had 'forsaken' him, having 'loved this present world.'

"Amongst the rest of St. Paul's companions at this time, there were two whom he distinguishes by the honourable title of his 'fellow-prisoners.' One of these is Aristarchus, the other Epaphras. With regard to the former, we know that he was a Macedonian of Thessalonica, one of 'Paul's companions in travel,' whose life was endangered by the mob at Ephesus, and who embarked with St. Paul at Cæsarea when he set sail for Rome. The other, Epaphras, was a Colossian, who must not be identified with the Philippian Epaphroditus, another of St. Paul's fellow-labourers during this time. It is not easy to say in what exact sense these two disciples were peculiarly fellow-prisoners of St. Paul. Perhaps it only implies that they dwelt in his house, which was also his prison.

"But of all the disciples now ministering to St. Paul at Rome, none has a greater interest than the fugitive Asiatic slave Onesimus. He belonged to a Christian named Philemon, a member of the Colossian Church. But he had robbed his master, and fled from Colosse, and at last found his way to Rome. Here he was converted to the faith of Christ, and had confessed to St. Paul his sins against his master."—Conybeare and Howson, Life of St. Paul.

A fountain in the crypt is shown, as having miraculously sprung up in answer to the prayers of St. Paul, that he might have wherewithal to baptize his disciples. At the end of the crypt are some large blocks of peperino, said to be remains of the arch erected by the senate in honour of the Emperor Gordian III., and destroyed by Innocent VIII.

Far along the right side of the Corso now extends the façade of the immense Palazzo Doria, built by Valvasori (the front towards the Collegio Romano being by Pietro da Cortona, and that towards the Piazza Venezia by Amati). Entering the courtyard, one must turn left to reach the Picture Gallery (which is open on Tuesdays and Fridays, from ten till two)—a vast collection, which contains some grand portraits and a few other fine paintings.

The 1st Room entered is a great hall—to which pictures are removed for copying. It contains four fine sarcophagi, with reliefs of the Hunt of Meleager, the Story of Marsyas, Endymion and Diana, and a Bacchic procession. Of two ancient circular altars, one serves as the pedestal of a bearded Dionysus. The pictures are chiefly landscapes, of the school of Poussin and Salvator Rosa,—that of the Deluge is by Ippolito Scarsellino.

2nd Room.—In the centre a Centaur (restored), of basalt and rosso-antico. On either side groups of boys playing.

Pictures:—

4. Caritas Romana: Valentin.

5. Circumcision: Giov. Bellini?

7. Madonna and Saints: Basaiti.

15. Temptations of St. Anthony: Scuola di Mantegna.

19. St. John in the Desert: Guercino?

35. Birth of St. John: Vittore Pisanello.

21. Spozalizio: V. Pisanello.

23. St. Sylvester before Maximin II.: Pesellino.

24. Madonna and Child: F. Francia?

28. Annunciation: Fil. Lippi.

29. St. Sylvester and the Dragon: Pesellino (see the account of Sta. Maria Liberatrice). 33. St. Agnes on the burning pile: Guercino.

37. Magdalen: Copy of the Titian in the Pitti Palace.

4th Room.—

A bust of Innocent X. (with whose ill-acquired wealth this palace was built) in rosso-antico, with a bronze head: Bernini.

5th Room.—

17. The Money-changers: Quentin Matsys.

25. St. Joseph: Guercino. In the centre, a group of Jacob wrestling with the Angel: School of Bernini.

6th Room.—

8. Portrait of Olympia Maldacchini, the sister-in-law of Innocent X., who ruled Rome in his time.

13. Madonna: Carlo Maratta.

30. Sketch of a Boy: Incognito.

From this room we enter a small cabinet, hung with pictures of Breughel and Fiammingo, and containing a bust by Algardi, of Olympia Maldacchini-Pamfili, who built the Villa Doria Pamfili for her son.

7th Room.—

8. Belisarius in the desert: Salvator Rosa.

19. Slaughter of the Innocents: Mazzolino.

We now enter the Galleries—which begin towards the left—

1st Gallery.—

2. Holy Family in glory, and two Franciscan Saints adoring: Garofalo.

3. Magdalen: Annibale Caracci.

8. Two Heads: Quentin Matsys.

9. Holy Family: Sassoferrato.

10. Story of the conversion of S. Eustachio (see the description of his church): School of Albert Durer.

14. A Portrait: Titian.

15. Holy Family: Andrea del Sarto.

20. The Three Ages of Man: Titian.*

21. Return of the Prodigal Son: Guercino.

25. Landscape with the Flight into Egypt: Claude Lorraine.

26. The meeting of Mary and Elizabeth: Garofalo.

38. Copy of the "Nozze Aldobrandini:" Poussin.

45. Madonna: Guido Reni.

50. Holy Family: Giulio Romano, from Raphael.

2nd Gallery.—

6. Madonna: Fran. Francia.

14. "Bartolo and Baldo:" Raphael.*

17. Portrait: Titian.

21. Portrait of a Widow: Vandyke.

24. Three Heads, called Calvin, Luther, and Catherine: Giorgione.

26. Sacrifice of Isaac: Titian.

33. Portrait of a Pamfili: Vandyke.

40. Herodias with the Head of John the Baptist: Pordenone. A grand bust of Andrew Doria.

50. "The Confessor:" Rubens.

53. Joanna of Arragon: School of Leonardo da Vinci.*

56. Magdalene: School of Titian.

61. Adoration of the Infant Jesus: Gio. Batt. Benvenuti ('l'Ortolano').

66. Holy Family: Garofalo.

69. Glory crowning Virtue (a sketch): Correggio.

80. Portrait of Titian and his Wife: Titian. Also a number of pictures of the Creation: Breughel.

3rd Gallery.—

1, 6, 28, 34. Landscapes (with figures introduced): Ann. Caracci.

5. Landscape, with Mercury stealing cattle: Claude Lorraine.

10. Titian's Wife: Titian.

11. "Niccolaus Macchiavellus Historiar. Scriptor:" Bronzino.

12. "The Mill:" Claude Lorraine.*

"The foreground of the picture of 'the Mill' is a piece of very lovely and perfect forest scenery, with a dance of peasants by a brook-side; quite enough subject to form, in the hands of a master, an impressive and complete picture. On the other side of the brook, however, we have a piece of pastoral life; a man with some bulls and goats tumbling head foremost into the water, owing to some sudden paralytic affection of all their legs. Even this group is one too many; the shepherd had no business to drive his flock so near the dancers, and the dancers will certainly frighten the cattle. But when we look farther into the picture, our feelings receive a sudden and violent shock, by the unexpected appearance, amidst things pastoral and musical, of the military; a number of Roman soldiers riding in on hobby-horses, with a leader on foot, apparently encouraging them to make an immediate and decisive charge on the musicians. Beyond the soldiers is a circular temple, in exceedingly bad repair; and close beside it, built against its very walls, a neat water-mill in full work; by the mill flows a large river with a weir across it.... At an inconvenient distance from the water-side stands a city, composed of twenty-five round towers and a pyramid. Beyond the city is a handsome bridge; beyond the bridge, part of the Campagna, with fragments of aqueducts; beyond the Campagna the chain of the Alps; on the left, the cascades of Tivoli.

"This is a fair example of what is commonly called an 'ideal' landscape; i.e. a group of the artist's studies from nature, individually spoiled, selected with such opposition of character as may insure their neutralizing each other's effect, and united with sufficient unnaturalness and violence of association to insure their producing a general sensation of the impossible."—Ruskin's Modern Painters.

"Many painters take a particular spot, and sketch it to perfection; but Claude was convinced that taking nature as he found it, seldom produced beauty. Neither did he like exhibiting in his pictures accidents of nature. He professed to pourtray the style of general nature, and so his pictures were a composition of the various draughts which he had previously made from beautiful scenes and prospects."—Sir J. Reynolds.

18. Pietà: Ann. Caracci.

23. Landscape, with the Temple of Apollo: Claude Lorraine.

26. Portrait: Mazzolino.

27. Portrait: Giorgione.

33. Landscape, with Diana hunting: Claude Lorraine.

At the end of this gallery is a small cabinet, containing the gems of the collection:—

1. Portrait of a "Letterato:" Lucas V. Leyden?*

2. Portrait of Andrea Doria: Sebastian del Piombo.*

3. Portrait of Giannetto Doria: Bronzino.*

4. Portrait of S. Filippo Neri, as a boy: Barocci.

5. Portrait of Innocent X.; Gio. Battista Pamfili (1644—55): Velasquez.*

6. Entombment: John Emelingk.*

Here, also, is the bust of the late beloved Princess Doria (Lady Mary Talbot), which has always been veiled in crape since her death.

The 4th Gallery is decorated with mirrors, and with statues of no especial merit.

"In the whole immense range of rooms of the Palazzo Doria, I saw but a single fire-place, and that so deep in the wall that no amount of blaze would raise the atmosphere of the room ten degrees. If the builder of the palace, or any of his successors, have committed crimes worthy of Tophet, it would be a still worse punishment to him to wander perpetually through this suite of rooms, on the cold floors of polished brick tiles, or marble, or mosaic, growing a little chiller and chiller through every moment of eternity—or at least, till the palace crumbles down upon him."—Hawthorne, Notes on Italy.

Opposite the Palazzo Doria is the Palazzo Salviati. The next two streets on the left lead into the long narrow square called Piazza Santi Apostoli, containing several handsome palaces. That on the right is the Palazzo Odescalchi, built by Bernini, in 1660, for Cardinal Fabio Chigi, to whose family it formerly belonged. It has some fine painted and carved wooden ceilings. This palace is supposed to be the scene of the latest miracle of the Roman Catholic Church. The present Princess Odescalchi had long been bedridden, and was apparently dying of a hopeless disease, when, while her family were watching what they considered her last moments, the pope (Pius IX.) sent, by the hands of a nun, a little loaf (panetello), which he desired her to swallow. With terrible effort, the sick woman obeyed, and was immediately healed, and on the following day the astonished Romans saw her go in person to the pope, at the Vatican, to return thanks for her restoration!

The building at the end of the square is the Palazzo Valentini, which once contained a collection of antiquities.

Near this, on the left, but separated from the piazza by a courtyard, is the vast Palazzo Colonna, begun, in the fifteenth century, by Martin V., and continued at various later periods. Julius II. at one time made it his residence, and also Cardinal (afterwards San Carlo) Borromeo. Part of it is now the residence of the French ambassadors. The palace is built very near the site of the ancient fortress of the Colonna family—so celebrated in times of mediæval warfare with the Orsini—of which one lofty tower still remains, in a street leading up to the Quirinal.

The Gallery is shown every day, except Sundays and holidays, from 11 to 3. It is entered by the left wing. The first room is a fine, gloomy old hall, containing the family dais, and hung with decaying Colonna portraits. Then come three rooms covered with tapestries, the last containing a pretty statue of a girl, sometimes called Niobe. Hence we reach the pictures. The 1st Room has an interesting collection of the early schools, including Madonnas of Filippo Lippi; Luca Longhi; Botticelli; Gentile da Fabriano; Innocenza da Imola; a curious Crucifixion, by Jacopo d'Avanzo; and a portrait by Giovanni Sanzio, father of Raphael.

The ceiling of the 3rd Room has a fresco, by Battoni and Luti, of the apotheosis of Martin V. (Oddone Colonna, 1417—24). Among its pictures, are St. Bernard, Giovanni Bellini; Onuphrius Pavinius, Titian; Holy Family, Bronzino; Peasant dining, Annibale Caracci; St. Jerome, Spagna; Portrait, Paul Veronese; Holy Family, Bonifazio.

Hence we enter the Great Hall, a truly grand room, hung with mirrors and painted with flowers by Mario de' Fiori, and with genii by Maratta. The statues here are unimportant. The ceiling is adorned with paintings, by Coli and Gherardi, of the battle of Lepanto, Oct. 8, 1571, which Marc-Antonio Colonna assisted in gaining. The best pictures are the family portraits:—Federigo Colonna, Sustermanns; Don Carlo Colonna, Vandyke; Card. Pompeio Colonna, Lorenzo Lotto; Vittoria Colonna, Muziano; Lucrezia Colonna, Vandyke; Pompeio Colonna, Agostino Caracci; Giacomo Sciarra Colonna, Giorgione. We may also notice an extraordinary picture of the Madonna rescuing a child from a demon, by Niccolo d'Alunno, with a double portrait, by Tintoret, on the right wall, and a Holy Family of Palma Vecchio at the end of the gallery. Near the entrance are some glorious old cabinets, inlaid with ivory and lapis-lazuli. On the steps leading to the upper end of the hall is a bomb left on the spot where it fell during the siege of Rome in 1848.

(Through the palace access may be obtained to the beautiful Colonna Gardens; but as they are generally visited from the Quirinal, they will be noticed in the description of that hill.)

"On parle d'un Pierre Colonna, dépouillé de tous ses biens en 1100 par le pape Pascal II. Il fallait que la famille fût déjà passablement ancienne, car les grandes fortunes ne s'élèvent pas en un jour."—About.

"Si n'etoit le différent des Ursins et des Colonnois (Orsini and Colonna) la terre de l'Eglise seroit la plus heureuse habitation pour les subjects, qui soit en tout le monde."—Philippe de Comines. 1500.

"Gloriosa Colonna, in cui s' appoggia

Nostra speranza, e'l gran nome Latino,

Ch'ancor non torte del vero cammino

L'ira di Giove per ventosa pioggia."

Petrarca, Sonnetto X.

Adjoining the Palazzo Colonna is the fine Church of the Santi Apostoli, founded in the sixth century, rebuilt by Martin V., in 1420, and modernized, c. 1602, by Fontana. The portico contains a magnificent bas-relief of an eagle and an oak-wreath (frequently copied and introduced in architectural designs).

"Entrez sous la portique de l'église des Saints-Apôtres, et vous trouverez là, encadré par hasard dans le mur, un aigle qu'entoure une couronne d'un magnifique travail. Vous reconnaîtrez facilement dans cet aigle et cette couronne la représentation d'une ensigne romaine, telle que les bas-reliefs de la colonne Trajane vous en ont montré plusieurs; seulement ce qui était là en petit est ici en grand."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 168.

Also in the portico, is a monument, by Canova, to Volpato, the engraver. Over the sacristy door is the tomb of Pope Clement XIV. (Giov. Antonio Ganganelli, 1769-74), also by Canova, executed in his twenty-fifth year.

"La mort de Clément XIV. est du 22 Septembre, 1774. A cette époque, Alphonse de Liguori était évêque de Sainte-Agathe des Goths, au royaume de Naples. Le 22 Septembre, au matin, l'évêque tomba dans une espèce de sommeil léthargique après avoir dit la messe, et, pendant vingt-quatre heures, il demeura sans mouvement dans son fauteuil. Ses serviteurs s'étonnant de cet état, le lendemain, avec lui:—'Vous ne savez pas, leur dit-il, que j'ai assisté le pape qui vient de mourir.' Peu après, la nouvelle du décès de Clément arriva à Sainte Agathe."—Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne, ii. 362.

In 1873 the traditional grave of St. Philip and St. James, the "Apostoli" to whom this church is dedicated, was opened during its restoration. Two bodies were found, enclosed in a sarcophagus of beautiful transparent marble, and have been duly enshrined. In the choir are monuments of the fifteenth century, to two relations of Pope Sixtus IV., Pietro Riario, and Cardinal Raffaelo Riario. To the right is the tomb of the Chevalier Girard, brother-in-law of Pope Julius II., and maître d'hôtel to Charles VIII. and Louis XII. of France. The tomb of Cardinal Bessarion was removed from the church, in 1702, to the cloisters of the adjoining Convent, which is the residence of the General of the Order of "Minori Conventuali" (Black Friars). The altar-piece represents the martyrdom of SS. Philip and James, by Muratori.

The heart of Maria Clementina Sobieski (buried in St. Peter's), wife of James III., called the First Pretender, is also preserved here, as is shown by a Latin inscription.

"Le roi d'Angleterre est devot a l'excès; sa matinée se passe en prières aux Saints-Apôtres, près du tombeau de sa femme."—De Brosses, 1739.

In 1552 this church was remarkable for the sermons of the monk Felix Peretti, afterwards Sixtus V.

"Suivant un manuscrit de la bibliothèque Alfieri, un jour, pendant qu'il était dans la chaire des Saints-Apôtres, un billet cacheté lui fut remis; Frère Félix l'ouvre et y lit, en face d'un certain nombre de propositions que l'on disait être extraites de ses discours, ce mot écrit en gros caractères: MENTIRIS (tu mens). Le fougueux orateur eut peine à contenir son émotion; il termina son sermon en quelques paroles, et courut au palais de l'Inquisition présenter le billet mystérieux, et demander qu'on examinât scrupuleusement sa doctrine. Cet examen lui fut favorable, et il lui valut l'amitié du grand inquisiteur, Michael Ghislieri, qui comprit aussitôt tout le parti qu'on pouvait tirer d'un homme dont les moindres actions étaient empreintes d'une inébranlable force de caractère."—Gournerie.

In this church is buried the young Countess Savorelli, the story of whose love, misfortunes, and death, has been celebrated by About, under the name of Tolla (the Lello of the story having been one of the Doria-Pamfili family).

"The convent which Tolla had sanctified by her death sent three embassies in turn to beg to preserve her relics: already the people spoke of her as a saint. But Count Feraldi (Savorelli) considered that it was due to his honour and to his vengeance to bear her remains with pomp to the tomb of his family. He had sufficient influence to obtain that for which permission is not granted once in ten years: the right of transporting her uncovered, upon a bed of white velvet, and of sparing her the horrors of a coffin. The beloved remains were wrapped in the white muslin robe which she wore in the garden on the day when she exchanged her sweet vows with Lello. The Marchesa Trasimeni, ill and wasted as she was, came herself to arrange her hair in the manner she loved. Every garden in Rome despoiled itself to send her its flowers; it was only necessary to choose. The funeral procession quitted the church of S. Antonio Abbate on Thursday evening at 7.30 for the Santi Apostoli, where the Feraldis are buried. The body was preceded by a long file of the black and white confraternities, each bearing its banner. The red light of the torches played upon the countenance of the beautiful dead, and seemed to animate her afresh. The piazza was filled with a dense and closely packed but dumb crowd; no discordant sound troubled the grief of the relations and friends of Tolla, who wept together at the Palazzo Feraldi....

"The Church of the Apostoli and the tomb of the poor loving girl, became at certain days of the year an object of pilgrimage, and more than one young Roman maiden adds to her evening litany the words, 'St. Tolla, virgin and martyr, pray for us.'"—About.

Just beyond the church is the Palazzo Muto-Savorelli (the home of Tolla, "Palazzo Feraldi") long the residence of Prince Charles Edward ("the last Pretender"), who died here in 1788. Hence the Via delle Vergini, with its dismal lines of latticed convent-windows, leads to the Fountain of Trevi.

Returning to the Corso, we pass (right) Palazzo Buonaparte, built by Giovanni dei Rossi in 1660. Here Lætitia Buonaparte—"Madame Mère"—the mother of Napoleon I., died February 2nd, 1836. The present head of the family is Cardinal Lucien-Louis Buonaparte, son of Prince Charles (son of Lucien) and of Princess Zénaïde, daughter of King Joseph of Spain. His only surviving brother is Prince Napoleon Buonaparte.

This palace forms one corner of the Piazza di Venezia, which contains the ancient castellated Palace of the Republic of Venice, built in 1468 by Giuliano da Majano (with materials plundered from the Coliseum) for Paul II., who was of Venetian birth. On the ruin of the republic the palace fell into the hands of Austria, and is still the residence of the Austrian ambassador, to whom it was specially reserved on the cession of Venice to Italy.

Opposite this, on a line with the Corso, is the Palazzo Torlonia, built by Fontana in 1650, for the Bolognetti family.

"Nobility is certainly more the fruit of wealth in Italy than in England. Here, where a title and estate are sold together, a man who can buy the one secures the other. From the station of a lacquey, an Italian who can amass riches, may rise to that of duke. Thus Torlonia, the Roman banker, purchased the title and estate of the Duca di Bracciano, fitted up the 'Palazzo Nuovo di Torlonia' with all the magnificence that wealth commands; and a marble gallery, with its polished floors, modern statues, painted ceilings, and gilded furniture, far outshines the faded splendour of the halls of the old Roman nobility."—Eaton's Rome.

"Un ancien domestique de place, devenu spéculateur et banquier, achète un marquisat, puis une principauté. Il crée un majorat pour son fils aîné et une seconde géniture en faveur de l'autre. L'un épouse une Sforza-Cesarini et marie ses deux fils à une Chigi et une Ruspoli; l'autre obtient pour femme une Colonna-Doria. C'est ainsi que la famille Torlonia, par la puissance de l'argent et la faveur du saint-père, s'est élevée presque subitement à la hauteur des plus grands maisons népotiques et féodales."—About.

The most interesting of the antiquities preserved in this palace is a bas-relief, representing a combat between men and animals, brought hither from the Palazzo Orsini, and probably pourtraying the famous dedication of the theatre of Marcellus on that site, celebrated by the slaughter of six hundred animals.

The end of the Corso—narrowed by a projecting wing of the Venetian Palace—is known as the Ripresa dei Barberi, because there the horses, which run in the races during the Carnival, are caught in large folds of drapery let down across the street to prevent their dashing themselves to pieces against the opposite wall.

Close to the end of this street, built into the wall of a house in the Via di Marforio, is one of the few relics of republican times in the city,—a Doric Tomb, bearing an inscription which states that it was erected by order of the people on land granted by the Senate to Caius Publicius Bibulus, the plebeian ædile, and his posterity. Petrarch mentions in one of his letters that he wrote one of his sonnets leaning against the tomb of Bibulus.

This tomb has a secondary interest as marking the commencement of the Via Flaminia, as it stood just outside the Porta Ratumena from whence that road issued. There are some obscure remains of another tomb on the other side of the street. The Via Flaminia, like the Via Appia, was once fringed with tombs.

From the Ripresa dei Barberi, a street passing under an arch on the right, leads to the back of the Venetian Palace, where is the Church of S. Marco, originally founded in the time of Constantine, but rebuilt in 833, and modernized by Cardinal Quirini in 1744. Its portico, which is lined with early Christian inscriptions, contains a fine fifteenth century doorway, surmounted by a figure of St. Mark. The interior is in the form of a basilica, its naves and aisles separated by twenty columns, and ending in an apse. The best pictures are S. Marco, "a pope enthroned, by Carlo Crivelli, resembling in sharpness of finish and individuality the works of Bartolomeo Viviani,"[18] and a Resurrection by Palma Giovane.

"The mosaics of S. Marco, executed under Pope Gregory IV. (A.D. 827—844), with all their splendour, exhibit the utmost poverty of expression. Above the tribune, in circular compartments, is the portrait of Christ between the symbols of the Evangelists, and further below SS. Peter and Paul (or two prophets) with scrolls; within the tribune, beneath a hand extended with a wreath, is the standing figure of Christ with an open book, and on either side, S. Angelo and Pope Gregory IV. Further on, but still belonging to the dome, are the thirteen lambs, forming a second and quite uneven circle round the figures. The execution is here especially rude, and of true Byzantine rigidity, while, as if the artist knew that his long lean figures were anything but secure upon their feet, he has given them each a separate little pedestal. The lines of the drapery are chiefly straight and parallel, while, with all this rudeness, a certain play of colour has been contrived by the introduction of high lights of another colour."—Kugler.

This church is said to have been originally founded in honour of the Evangelist in 337 by Pope Marco, but this pope, being himself canonized, is also honoured here, and is buried under the high altar. On April 25th, St. Mark's Day, a grand procession of clergy starts from this church. It was for the most part rebuilt under Gregory IV. in 838.

Behind the Palazzo Venezia is the vast Church of Il Gesù, begun in 1568 by the celebrated Vignola, but the cupola and façade completed in 1575 by his scholar Giacomo della Porta. In the interior is the monument of Cardinal Bellarmin, and various pictures representing events in the lives or deaths of the Jesuit saints,—that of the death of St. Francis Xavier is by Carlo Maratta. The high altar, by Giacomo della Porta, has fine columns of giallo-antico. The altar of St. Ignatius at the end of the left transept is of gaudy magnificence. It was designed by Padre Pozzi, the group of the Trinity being by Bernardino Ludovisi; the globe in the hand of the Almighty is said to be the largest piece of lapis-lazuli in existence. Beneath this altar, and his silver statue, lies the body of St. Ignatius Loyola, in an urn of gilt bronze, adorned with precious stones. A great ceremony takes place in this church on July 31st, the feast of St. Ignatius, and on December 31st a Te Deum is sung here for the mercies of the past year, in the presence of the pope, cardinals, and the people of Rome,—a really solemn and impressive service.

The Convent of the Gesù is the residence of the General of the Jesuits ("His Paternity"), and the centre of religious life in their Order. The rooms in which St. Ignatius lived and died are of the deepest historic interest. They consist of four chambers. The first, now a chapel, is that in which he wrote his "Constitutions." The second, also a chapel, is that in which he died. It contains the altar at which he daily celebrated mass, and the autograph engagement to live under the same laws of obedience, poverty, and chastity, signed by Laynez, Francis Xavier, and Ignatius Loyola. On its walls are two portraits of Ignatius Loyola, one as a young knight, the other as a Jesuit father, and portraits of S. Carlo Borromeo and S. Filippo Neri. It was in this chamber also that St. Francis Borgia died. The third room was that of the attendant monk of St. Ignatius; the fourth is now a kind of museum of relics containing portions of his robes and small articles which belonged to him and to other saints of the Order.

Facing the Church of the Gesù is the Palazzo Altieri, built by Cardinal Altieri in 1670, from designs of Giov. Antonio Rossi.

"Quand le palais Altieri fut achevé, les Altieri, neveux de Clément X., invitèrent leur oncle à le venir voir. Il s'y fit porter, et d'aussi loin qu'il aperçut la magnificence et l'étendue de cette superbe fabrique, il reboussa chemin le cœur serré, sans dire un seul mot, et mourut peu après."—De Brosses.

"On the staircase of the Palazzo Altieri, is an ancient colossal marble finger, of such extraordinary size, that it is really worth a visit."—Eaton's Rome.

This palace was the residence of the late noble-hearted vicar-general, Cardinal Altieri, who died a martyr to his devotion to his flock (as Bishop of Albano) during the terrible visitation of cholera at Albano in 1867.

The Piazza del Gesù is considered to be the most draughty place in Rome. The legend runs that the devil and the wind were one day taking a walk together. When they came to this square, the devil, who seemed to be very devout, said to the wind, "Just wait a minute, mio caro, while I go into this church." So the wind promised, and the devil went into the Gesù, and has never come out again—and the wind is blowing about in the Piazza del Gesù to this day.

CHAPTER III.

THE CAPITOLINE.

The Story of the Hill—Piazza del Campidoglio—Palace of the Senator—View from the Capitol Tower—The Tabularium—The Museo Capitolino—Gallery of Statues—Palace of the Conservators—Gallery of Pictures—Palazzo Caffarelli—Tarpeian Rock—Convent and Church of Ara-Cœli—Mamertine Prisons.

THE Capitoline was the hill of the kings and the republic, as the Palatine was of the empire.

Entirely composed of tufa, its sides, now concealed by buildings or by the accumulated rubbish of ages, were abrupt and precipitous, as are still the sides of the neighbouring citadels of Corneto and Cervetri. It was united to the Quirinal by an isthmus of land cut away by Trajan, but in every other direction was isolated by its perpendicular cliffs:—

"Arduus in valles et fora clivus erat."

Ovid, Fast. i. 264.

Up to the time of the Tarquins, it bore the name of Mons Saturnus,[19] from the mythical king Saturn, who is reported to have come to Italy in the reign of Janus, and to have made a settlement here. His name was derived from sowing, and he was looked upon as the introducer of civilization and social order, both of which are inseparably connected with agriculture. His reign here was thus considered to be the golden age of Italy. His wife was Ops, the representative of plenty.[20]

"C'est la tradition d'un âge de paix représenté par le règne paisible de Saturne; avant qu'il y eut une Roma, ville de la force, il y eut une Saturnia, ville de la paix."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. i. 86.

Virgil represents Evander, the mythical king of the Palatine, as exhibiting Saturnia, already in ruins, to Æneas.

"Hæc duo præterea disjectis oppida muris,

Reliquias veterumque vides monumenta virorum.

Hanc Janus pater, hanc Saturnus condidit arcem:

Janiculum huic, illi fuerat Saturnia nomen."

Æn. viii. 356.

When Romulus had fixed his settlement upon the Palatine, he opened an asylum for fugitive slaves upon the then deserted Saturnus, and here, at a sacred oak, he is said to have offered up the spoils of the Cæcinenses, and their king Acron, who had made a war of reprisal upon him, after the rape of their women in the Campus Martius; here also he vowed to build a temple to Jupiter Feretrius, where spoils should always be offered. But in the mean time, the Sabines, under Titius Tatus, besieged and took the hill, having a gate of its fortress (said to have been on the ascent above the spot where the arch of Severus now stands) opened to them by Tarpeia, who gazed with longing upon the golden bracelets of the warriors, and, obtaining a promise to receive that which they wore upon their arms, was crushed by their shields as they entered. Some authorities, however, maintain that she asked and obtained the hand of king Tatius. From this time the hill was completely occupied by the Sabines, and its name became partially merged in that of Mons Tarpeia, which its southern side has always retained. Niebuhr states that it is a popular superstition that the beautiful Tarpeia still sits, sparkling with gold and jewels, enchanted and motionless, in a cave in the centre of the hill.

After the death of Tatius, the Capitoline again fell under the government of Romulus, and his successor, Numa Pompilius, founded here a Temple of Fides Publica, in which the flamens were always to sacrifice with a fillet on their right hands, in sign of fidelity. To Numa also is attributed the worship of the god Terminus, who had a temple here in very early ages.

Under Tarquinius Superbus, B.C. 535, the magnificent Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, which had been vowed by his father, was built with money taken from the Volscians in war. In digging its foundations, the head of a man was found, still bloody, an omen which was interpreted by an Etruscan augur to portend that Rome would become the head of Italy. In consequence of this, the name of the hill was once more changed, and has ever since been Mons Capitolinus, or Capitolium.

The site of this temple has always been one of the vexed questions of history. At the time it was built, as now, the hill consisted of two peaks, with a level space between them. Niebuhr and Gregorovius place the temple on the south-eastern height, but Canina and other authorities, with more probability, incline to the north-eastern eminence, the present site of Ara-Cœli, because, among many other reasons, the temple faced the south, and also the Forum, which it could not have done upon the south-eastern summit; and also because the citadel is always represented as having been nearer to the Tiber than the temple: for when Herdonius, and the Gauls, arriving by the river, scaled the heights of the Capitol, it was the citadel which barred their path, and in which, in the latter case, Manlius was awakened by the noise of the sacred geese of Juno.

The temple of Jupiter occupied a lofty platform, the summit of the rock being levelled to receive it. Its façade was decorated with three ranges of columns, and its sides by a single colonnade. It was nearly square, being 200 Roman feet in length, and 185 in width.[21] The interior was divided into three cells; the figure of Jupiter occupied that in the centre, Minerva was on his right, and Juno on his left. The figure of Jupiter was the work of an artist of the Volscian city of Fregellæ,[22] and was formed of terra-cotta, painted like the statues which we may still see in the Etruscan museum at the Vatican, and clothed with the tunica palmata, and the toga picta, the costume of victorious generals. In his right hand was a thunder-bolt, and in his left a spear.

"Jupiter angusta vix totus stabat in Æde;

Inque Jovis dextra fictile fulmen erat."

Ovid, Fast. i. 202.

At a later period the statue was formed of gold, but this figure had ceased to exist in the time of Pliny.[23] When Martial wrote, the statues of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, were all gilt.

"Scriptus es æterno nunc primum, Jupiter, auro,

Et soror, et summi filia tota patris."

Martial, xi. Ep. 5.

In the wall adjoining the cella of Minerva, a nail was fastened every year, to mark the lapse of time.[24] In the centre of the temple was the statue of Terminus.

"The sumptuous fane of Jupiter Capitolinus had peculiar claims on the veneration of the Roman citizens; for not only the great lord of the earth was worshipped in it, but the conservative principle of property itself found therein its appropriate symbol. While the statue of Jupiter occupied the usual place of the divinity in the furthest recess of the building, an image of the god Terminus was also placed in the centre of the nave, which was open to the heavens. A venerable legend affirmed, that when, in the time of the kings, it was requisite to clear a space on the Capitoline to erect on it a temple to the great father of the gods, and the shrines of the lesser divinities were to be removed for the purpose, Terminus alone, the patron of boundaries, refused to quit his place, and demanded to be included in the walls of the new edifice. Thus propitiated he was understood to declare that henceforth the bounds of the republic should never be removed; and the pledge was more than fulfilled by the ever increasing circuit of her dominion."—Merivale, Romans Under the Empire.

The gates of the temple were of gilt bronze, and its pavement of mosaic;[25] in a vault beneath were preserved the Sibylline books placed there by Tarquin. The building of Tarquin lasted 400 years, and was burnt down in the civil wars, B.C. 83. It was rebuilt very soon afterwards by Sylla, and adorned with columns of Pentelic marble, which he had brought from the temple of Jupiter Olympus at Athens.[26] Sylla, however, did not live to rededicate it, and it was finished by Q. Lutatius Catulus, B.C. 62. This temple lasted till it was burnt to the ground by the soldiers of Vitellius, who set fire to it by throwing torches upon the portico, A.D. 69, and dragging forth Sabinus, the brother of Vespasian, murdered him at the foot of the Capitol, near the Mamertine Prisons.[27] Domitian, the younger son of Vespasian, was, at that time, in the temple with his uncle, and escaped in the dress of a priest; in commemoration of which, he erected a chapel to Jupiter Conservator, close to the temple, with an altar upon which his adventure was sculptured. The temple was rebuilt by Vespasian, who took so great an interest in the work, that he carried away some of the rubbish on his own shoulders; but his temple was the exact likeness of its predecessor, only higher, as the aruspices said that the gods would not allow it to be altered.[28] In this building Titus and Vespasian celebrated their triumph for the fall of Jerusalem. The ruin of the temple began in A.D. 404, during the short visit of the youthful Emperor Honorius to Rome, when the plates of gold which lined its doors were stripped off by Stilicho.[29] It was finally plundered by the Vandals, in A.D. 455, when its statues were carried off to adorn the African palace of Genseric, and half its roof was stripped of the gilt bronze tiles which covered it; but it is not known precisely when it ceased to exist,—the early fathers of the Christian Church speak of having seen it. The story that the bronze statue of Jupiter, belonging to this temple, was transformed by Leo I. into the famous image of St. Peter, is very doubtful.

Close beside this, the queen of Roman temples, stood the Temple of Fides, said to have been founded by Numa, where the senate were assembled at the time of the murder of Tiberius Gracchus, B.C. 133, who fell in front of the temple of Jupiter, at the foot of the statues of the kings: his blood being the first spilt in Rome in a civil war.[30] Near this, also, were the twin Temples of Mars and Venus Erycina, vowed after the battle of Thrasymene, and consecrated, B.C. 215, by the consuls Q. Fabius Maximus and T. Otacilius Crassus. Near the top of the Clivus was the Temple of Jupiter Tonans, built by Augustus, in consequence of a vow which he made in an expedition against the Cantabri when his litter was struck, and the slave who preceded him was killed by lightning. This temple was so near, that it was considered as a porch to that of Jupiter Capitolinus, and in token of that character, Augustus hung some bells upon its pediment.

On the Arx, or opposite height of the Capitol, was the Temple of Honour and Virtue, built B.C. 103, by Marius, with the spoils taken in the Cimbric wars. This temple was of sufficient size to allow of the senate meeting there, to pass the decree for Cicero's recall.[31] Here Nardini places the ancient Temple of Jupiter Feretrius, in which Romulus dedicated the first spolia opima. Here, on the site of the house of Manlius, was built the Temple of Juno Moneta, B.C. 345, in accordance with a vow of L. Furius Camillus.[32] On this height, also, was the Altar of Jupiter Pistor, which commemorated the stratagem of the Romans, who threw down loaves into the camp of the besieging Gauls, to deceive them as to the state of their supplies.[33]

"Nomine, quam pretio celebratior, arce Tonantis,

Dicam Pistoris quid velit ara Jovis."

Ovid, Fast. vi. 349.

It was probably also on this side of the hill that the gigantic Statue of Jupiter stood, which was formed out of the armour taken from the Samnites, B.C. 293, and which is stated by Pliny to have been of such a size that it was visible from the top of Monte Cavo.

Two cliffs are now rival claimants to be considered as the Tarpeian Rock; but it is most probable that the whole of the hill on this side of the Intermontium was called the Mons Tarpeia, and was celebrated under that name by the poets.

"In summo custos Tarpeiæ Manlius arcis

Stabat pro templo, et Capitolia celsa tenebat:

Romuleoque recens horrebat regia culmo.

Atque hic auratis volitans argenteus anser

Porticibus, Gallos in limine adesse canebat."

Virgil, Æn. viii. 652.

"Aurea Tarpeia ponet Capitolia rupe,

Et junget nostro templorum culmina cœlo."

Sil. Ital. iii. 623.

... "juvat inter tecta Tonantis,

Cernere Tarpeia pendentes rupe Gigantes."

Claud. vi. Cons. Hon. 44.

Among the buildings upon the Intermontium, or space between the two heights, were the Tabularium, or Record Office, part of which still remains; a portico, built by Scipio Nasica,[34] and an arch which Nero built here to his own honour, the erection of which upon the sacred hill, hitherto devoted to the gods, was regarded even by the subservient senate as an unparalleled act of presumption.[35]

In mediæval times the revolutionary government of Arnold of Brescia established itself on this hill (1144), and Pope Lucius II., in attempting to regain his temporal power, was slain with a stone in attacking it. Here Petrarch received his laurel crown (1341); and here the tribune Rienzi promulgated the laws of the "good estate." At this time nothing existed on the Capitol but the church and convent of Ara-Cœli, and a few ruins. Yet the cry of the people at the coronation of Petrarch, "Long life to the Capitol and the poet!" shows that the scene itself was then still more present to their minds than the principal actor upon it. But, when the popes returned from Avignon, the very memory of the Capitol seemed effaced, and the spot was only known as the Goat's Hill,—Monte Caprino. Pope Boniface IX. (1389—94) was the first to erect on the Capitol, on the ruins of the Tabularium, a residence for the senator and his assessors, Paul III. (1544—50) employed Michael Angelo to lay out the Piazza del Campidoglio; when he designed the Capitoline Museum and the Palace of the Conservators. Pius IV., Gregory XIII., and Sixtus V. added the sculptures and other monuments which now adorn the steps and balustrade.[36]

Just beyond the end of the Corso, the Via della Pedacchia turns to the right, under a quaint archway in the secret passage constructed as a means of escape for the Franciscan Generals of Ara-Cœli to the Palazzo Venezia, as that in the Borgo is for the escape of the popes to S. Angelo. In this street is a house decorated with simple but elegant Doric details, and bearing an inscription over the door which shows that it was that of Pietro da Cortona.

The street ends in the sunny open space at the foot of the Capitol, with Ara-Cœli on its left, approached by an immense flight of steps, removed hither from the Temple of the Sun, on the Quirinal, but marking the site of the famous staircase to the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, which Julius Cæsar descended on his knees, after his triumph for his Gallic victories.[37]

The grand staircase, "La Cordonnata," was opened in its present form on the occasion of the entry of Charles V., in 1536.[38] At its foot are two lions of Egyptian porphyry, which were removed hither from the Church of S. Stefano in Cacco, by Pius IV. It was down the staircase which originally existed on this site, that Rienzi the tribune fled in his last moments, and close to the spot where the left-hand lion stands, that he fell, covered with wounds, his wife witnessing his death from a window of the burning palace above. A small space between the two staircases has lately been transformed into a garden, through which access may be obtained to four vaulted brick chambers, remnants of the substructions of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. A living wolf is kept here in commemoration of the nurse of Romulus and Remus.

At the head of the stairs are colossal statues of the twin heroes, Castor and Pollux (brought hither from the Ghetto), commemorating the victory of the Lake Regillus, after which they rode before the army to Rome, to announce the joyful news, watered their horses at the Aqua Argentina, and then passed away from the gaze of the multitude into celestial spheres. Beyond these, on either side, are two trophies of imperial times discovered in the ruin on the Esquiline, misnamed the Trophies of Marius. Next come statues of Constantine the Great and his son Constantine II., from their baths on the Quirinal. The two ends of the parapet are occupied by ancient Milliaria, being the first and seventh milestones of the Appian Way. The first milestone was found in situ, and showed that the miles counted from the gates of Rome, and not, as was formerly supposed, from the Milliarium Aureum, at the foot of the Capitol.

We now find ourselves in the Piazza del Campidoglio, occupying the Intermontium, where Brutus harangued the people after the murder of Julius Cæsar. In the centre of the square is the famous Statue of Marcus Aurelius, the only perfect ancient equestrian statue in existence. It was originally gilt, as may still be seen from marks of gilding upon the figure, and stood in front of the arch of Septimius-Severus. Hence it was removed by Sergius III. to the front of the Lateran, where, not long after, it was put to a singular use by John XIII., who hung a refractory prefect of the city from it by his hair.[39] During the rejoicings consequent upon the elevation of Rienzi to the tribuneship in 1347, one of its nostrils was made to flow with water and the other with wine. From its vicinity to the Lateran, so intimately connected with the history of Constantine, it was supposed during the middle ages to represent that Christian emperor, and this fortunate error alone preserved it from the destruction which befell so many other ancient imperial statues. Michael Angelo, when he designed the buildings of the Capitoline Piazza, wished to remove the statue to its present site, but the canons of the Lateran were unwilling to part with their treasure, and only consented to its removal upon an annual acknowledgment of their proprietorship, for which a bunch of flowers is still presented once a year by the senators to the chapter of the Lateran. Michael Angelo, standing in fixed admiration before this statue, is said to have bidden the horse "Cammina." Even until late years an especial guardian has been appointed to take care of it, with an annual stipend of ten scudi a year, and the title of "Il custode del Cavallo."

"They stood awhile to contemplate the bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius. The moonlight glistened upon traces of the gilding which had once covered both rider and steed; these were almost gone, but the aspect of dignity was still perfect, clothing the figure as it were with an imperial robe of light. It is the most majestic representation of the kingly character that ever the world has seen. A sight of the old heathen emperor is enough to create an evanescent sentiment of loyalty even in a democratic bosom, so august does he look, so fit to rule, so worthy of man's profoundest homage and obedience, so inevitably attractive of his love. He stretches forth his hand with an air of proud magnificence and unlimited authority, as if uttering a decree from which no appeal was permissible, but in which the obedient subject would find his highest interests consulted: a command that was in itself a benediction."—Hawthorne.

"I often ascend the Capitoline Hill to look at Marcus Aurelius and his horse, and have not been able to refrain from caressing the lions of basalt. You cannot stand on the Aventine or the Palatine without grave thoughts, but standing on the spot brings me very little nearer the image of past ages."—Niebuhr's Letters.

"La statue équestre de Marc-Aurèle a aussi sa légende, et celle-là n'est pas du moyen âge, mais elle a été recueillie il y a peu d'années de la bouche d'un jeune Romain. La dorure, en partie détruite, se voit encore en quelques endroits. A en croire le jeune Romain, cependant, la dorure, au lieu d'aller s'effaçant toujours davantage, était en voie de progrès. 'Voyez, disait-il, la statue de bronze commence à se dorer, et quand elle le sera entièrement, le monde finira.'—C'est toujours, sous une forme absurde, la vieille idée romaine, que les destinées et l'existence de Rome sont liées aux destinées et à l'existence du monde. C'est ce qui faisait dire au septième siècle; ainsi que les pèlerins saxons l'avaient entendu et le répétaient; 'Quand le Colisée tombera, Rome et le monde finiront.'"—Ampère, Emp. ii. 228.

The building at the back of the piazza is The Palace of the Senator, originally built by Boniface IX. (1389), but altered by Michael Angelo to correspond with his buildings on either side. The fountain at the foot of the double staircase was erected by Sixtus V., and is adorned with statues of river gods found in the Colonna Gardens, and a curious porphyry figure of Minerva—adapted as Rome. The body of this statue was found at Cori, but the head and arms are modern additions.

"Rome personnifiée, cette déesse à laquelle on érigea des temples, voulut d'abord être une Amazone, ce qui se conçoit, car elle était guerrière avant tout. C'est sous la forme de Minerve que Rome est assise sur la place du Capitole."—Ampère, Hist. Romaine, iii. 242.

In the interior of this building the Hall of the Senators contains some papal statues, and that of Charles of Anjou, who was made senator of Rome in the thirteenth century.

The Tower of the Capitol contains the great bell of Viterbo, carried off from that town during the wars of the middle ages, which is never rung except to announce the death of a pope, or the opening of the carnival. During the closing years of the temporal power of the popes, it has been difficult to obtain admission to the tower, but the ascent is well repaid by the view from the summit, which embraces not only the seven hills of Rome, but the various towns and villages of the neighbouring plain and mountains which successively fell under its dominion.

"Pour suivre les vicissitudes des luttes extérieures des Romains contre les peuples qui les entourent et les pressent de tous côtés, nous n'aurons qu'à regarder à l'horizon la sublime campagne romaine et ces montagnes qui l'encadrent si admirablement. Elles sont encore plus belles et l'œil prend encore plus de plaisir à les contempler quand on songe à ce qu'elles ont vu d'efforts et de courage dans les premiers temps de la république. Il n'est presque pas un point de cette campagne qui n'ait été témoin de quelque rencontre glorieuse; il n'est presque un rocher de ces montagnes qui n'est été pris et repris vingt fois.

"Toutes ces nations sabelliques qui dominaient la ville du Tibre et semblaient placées là sur des hauteurs disposées en demi-cercle pour l'envelopper et l'écraser, toutes ces nations sont devant nous et à la portée du regard.

"Voici de côté de la mer les montagnes des Volsques; plus à l'est sont les Herniques et les Æques; au nord, les Sabins; à l'ouest, d'autres ennemis, les Etrusques, dont le mont Ciminus est le rempart.

"Au sud, la plaine se prolonge jusqu'à la mer. Ici sont les Latins, qui, n'ayant pas des montagnes pour leur servir de citadelle et de refuge, commenceront par être des alliés.

"Nous pouvons donc embrasser le panorama historique des premiers combats qu'eurent à soutenir et que soutinrent si vaillamment les Romains affranchis."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. ii. 373.

Beneath the Palace of the Senator (entered by a door in the street on the right), are the gigantic remains of the Tabularium, consisting of huge rectangular blocks of peperino supporting a Doric colonnade, which is shown by an inscription still preserved to have been that of the public Record Office, where the Tabulæ, engraved plates bearing important decrees of the Senate, were preserved, having been placed there by Q. Lutatius Catulus in B.C. 79. A gallery in the interior of the Tabularium has been fitted up as a museum of architectural antiquities collected from the neighbouring temples. This building is as it were the boundary between inhabited Rome and that Rome which is a city of ruins.

"I came to the Capitol, and looked down on the other side. There before my eyes opened an immense grave, and out of the grave rose a city of monuments in ruins, columns, triumphal arches, temples, and palaces, broken, ruinous, but still beautiful and grand,—with a solemn mournful beauty! It was the giant apparition of ancient Rome."—Frederika Bremer.

The traces of an ancient staircase still exist, which led down from the Tabularium to the Forum. This is believed by many to have been the path by which the besiegers under Vitellius, A.D. 69, attacked the Capitol.

The east side of the piazza—on the left as one stands at the head of the steps—is the Museo Capitolino (open daily from 9 to 4, for a fee; and on Mondays and Thursdays gratis, from 2½ to 4½).

Above the fountain in the court, opposite the entrance, reclines the colossal statue of a river-god, called Marforio, removed hither from the end of the Via di Marforio (Forum Martis?) near the arch of Severus. This figure, according to Roman fancy, was the friend and gossip of Pasquin (at the Palazzo Braschi), and lively dialogues, merciless to the follies of the government and the times, used to appear with early morning, placarded on their respective pedestals, as passing between the two. Thus, when Clement XI. mulcted Rome of numerous sums to send to his native Urbino, Marforio asked, "What is Pasquino doing?" The next morning Pasquin answered, "I am taking care of Rome, that it does not go away to Urbino." In the desire of putting an end to such inconvenient remarks, the government ordered the removal of one of the statues to the Capitol, and, since Marforio has been shut up, Pasquino has lost his spirits.

From the corridor on the ground floor open several rooms devoted to ancient inscriptions and sarcophagi with bas-reliefs. The first room on the left has some bronzes—in the centre a mutilated horse, found, 1849, in the Trastevere.

"Calamis, venu un peu avant Phidias, n'eut point de rival pour les chevaux. Calamis, qui fut fondeur en bronze, serait-il l'auteur du cheval de bronze du Capitole, qui, en effet, semble plutôt un peu antérieur que postérieur à Phidias?"—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 234.

At the foot of the staircase is a colossal statue of the Emperor Hadrian, found on the Cœlian.

The Staircase is lined with the fragments of the Pianta Capitolina, a series of marble slabs of imperial date (found in the sixteenth century under SS. Cosmo and Damian), inscribed with ground plans of Rome, and exceedingly important from the light they throw upon the ancient topography of the city.

The upper Corridor is lined with statues and busts. Here and elsewhere we will only notice those especially remarkable for beauty or historic interest.[40]

L. 12. Satyr playing on a flute.

R. 13. Cupid bending his bow.

R. 20. Old woman intoxicated.

"Tout le monde a remarqué dans le musée du Capitole une vieille femme serrant des deux mains une bouteille, la bouche entr'ouverte, les yeux mourants tournés vers le ciel, comme si, dans la jubilation de l'ivresse, elle savourait le vin qu'elle vient de boire. Comment ne pas voir dans cette caricature en marbre une reproduction de la Vielle Femme ivre de Myron, qui passait pour une des curiosités de Smyrne."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 272.

L. 26. The infant Hercules strangling a serpent.

L. 28. Grand Sarcophagus—the Rape of Proserpine.

R. 33. Satyr playing on a flute.

(In the wall on the left inscriptions from the columbarium of Livia.)

R. 43. Head of Ariadne.

L. 48. Sarcophagus—the birth and childhood of Bacchus.

L. 56. Statue, draped.

R. 64. Jupiter, on a cippus with a curious relief of Claudia drawing the boat with the image of the Magna Mater up the Tiber.

L. 69. Bust of Caligula.

R. 70. Marcus Aurelius, as a boy—a very beautiful bust.

R. 70. Statue of Minerva from Velletri. The same as that in the Braccio Nuovo of the Vatican.

R. 72. Trajan.

76. In the window, a magnificent vase, found near the tomb of Cecilia Metella, standing on a puteal adorned with reliefs of the twelve principal gods and goddesses.

From the right of this corridor open two chambers. The first is named the Room of the Doves, from the famous mosaic found in the ruins of Hadrian's villa near Tivoli, and generally called Pliny's Doves, because Pliny, when speaking of the perfection to which the mosaic art had attained, describes a wonderful mosaic of Sosus of Pergamos, in which one dove is seen drinking and casting her shadow on the water, while others are pluming themselves on the edge of the vase. As a pendant to this is another Mosaic, of a Tragic and Comic Mask. In the farther window is the Iliac Tablet, an interesting relief in the soft marble called palombino, relating to the story of the destruction of Troy, and the flight of Æneas, and found at Bovillæ.

"L'ensemble de la guerre contre Troie est contenu dans un abrégé figuré qu'on appelle la Table Iliaque, petit bas-relief destiné à offrir un résumé visible de cette guerre aux jeunes Romains, et à servir dans les écoles soit pour l'Iliade, soit pour les poëmes cycliques comme d'un Index parlant.

"La Table Iliaque est un ouvrage romain fait à Rome. Tout ce qui touche aux origines troyennes de cette ville, inconnues à Homère et célébrées surtout par Stésichore avant de l'être par Virgile, tient dans ce bas-relief une place importante et domine dans sa composition."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 431.

In the centre of the room is a pretty statuette of a girl shielding a dove.

The second chamber, known as The Reserved Cabinet, contains the famous Venus of the Capitol—a Greek statue, found immured in a wall upon the Quirinal.

"La vérité et la complaisance avec lesquelles la nature est rendue dans la Vénus du Capitole faisaient de cette belle statue,—qui pourtant n'a rien d'indécent bien que par une pruderie peu chaste on l'ait reléguée dans un cabinet réservé,—faisaient de cette belle statue un sujet de scandale pour l'austérité des premiers chrétiens. C'était sans doute afin de la soustraire à leurs mutilations qu'on l'avait enfouie avec soin, ce qui l'a conservée dans son intégrité; ainsi son danger l'a sauvée. Comme on l'a trouvée dans le quartier suspect de la Suburra, on peut supposer qu'elle ornait l'atrium élégant de quelque riche courtisane."—Ampère, iii. 318.

The two smaller sculptures of Leda and the Swan, and Cupid and Psyche—two lovely children embracing (most needlessly secluded here), were found on the Aventine.

From the end of the gallery we enter

The Hall of the Emperors. In the centre is the beautiful seated statue of Agrippina (grand-daughter of Augustus—wife of Germanicus—and mother of Caligula).

"On s'arrête avec respect devant la première Agrippine, assise avec une si noble simplicité et dont le visage exprime si bien la fermeté virile."—Ampère, iv.

"Ici nous la contemplons telle que nous pouvons nous la figurer après la mort de Germanicus. Elle semble mise aux fers par le destin, mais sans pouvoir encore renoncer aux pensées superbes dont son âme était remplie aux jours de son bonheur."—Braun.

Round the room are ranged 83 busts of Roman emperors, empresses, and their near relations, forming perhaps the most interesting portrait gallery in the world. Even viewed as works of art, many of them are of the utmost importance. They are—

1. Julius Cæsar, nat. B.C. 100; ob. B.C. 44.

2. Augustus, Imp. B.C. 12—A.D. 14.

3. Marcellus, his nephew and son-in-law, son of Octavia, ob. B.C. 23, aged 20.

4, 5. Tiberius, Imp. A.D. 14-37.

6. Drusus, his brother, son of Livia and Claudius Nero, ob. B.C. 10.

7. Drusus, son of Tiberius and Vipsania, ob. A.D. 23.

8. Antonia, daughter of Mark Antony and Octavia, wife of the elder Drusus, mother of Germanicus and Claudius.

9. Germanicus, son of Drusus and Antonia, ob. A.D. 19.

10. Agrippina, daughter of Julia and Agrippa, granddaughter of Augustus, wife of Germanicus. Died of starvation under Tiberius, A.D. 33.

11. Caligula, Imp. A.D. 37-41, son of Germanicus and Agrippina. Murdered by the tribune Cherœa (in basalt).

12. Claudius, Imp. A.D. 41-54, younger son of Drusus and Antonia. Poisoned by Agrippina.

13. Messalina, third wife of Claudius. Put to death by Claudius, A.D. 48.

"Une grosse commère sensuelle, aux traits bouffis, à l'air assez commun, mais qui pouvait plaire à Claude."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 32.

14. Agrippina the younger, sixth wife of Claudius, daughter of Germanicus and Agrippina the elder, great-granddaughter of Augustus. Murdered by her son Nero, A.D. 60.

"Ce buste la montre avec cette beauté plus grande que celle de sa mère, et qui était pour elle un moyen. Agrippine a les yeux levés vers le ciel, on dirait qu'elle craint, et qu'elle attend."—Emp. ii. 34.

15, 16. Nero, Imp. A.D. 54-69, son of Agrippina the younger by her first husband, Ahenobarbus. Died by his own hand.

17. Poppæa Sabina (?), second wife of Nero. Killed by a kick from

her husband, A.D. 62.

"Ce visage a la délicatesse presque enfantine que pouvait offrir celui de cette femme, dont les molles recherches et les soins curieux de toilette étaient célèbres, et dont Diderot a dit avec vérité, bien qu'avec un peu d'emphase, 'C'était une furie sous le visage des grâces.'"—Emp. ii. 38.

18. Galba, Imp. A.D. 69. Murdered in the Forum.

19. Otho, Imp. A.D. 69. Died by his own hand.

20. Vitellius (?), Imp. A.D. 69. Murdered at the Scalæ Gemoniæ.

21. Vespasian, Imp. A.D. 70-79.

22. Titus, Imp. A.D. 79-81. Supposed to have been poisoned by Domitian.

23. Julia, daughter of Titus.

24. Domitian, Imp. A.D. 81-96, son of Vespasian. Murdered in the Palace of the Cæsars.

"Domitien est sans comparaison le plus beau des trois Flaviens: mais c'est une beauté formidable, avec un air farouche et faux."—Emp. ii. 12.

25. Longina (?).

26. Nerva (?), Imp. A.D. 96.

27. Trajan, Imp. A.D. 98-118.

28. Plotina, wife of Trajan.

29. Marciana, sister of Trajan.

30. Matidia, daughter of Marciana, niece of Trajan.

31, 32. Hadrian, Imp. A.D. 118-138, adopted son of Trajan.

33. Julia Sabina, wife of Hadrian, daughter of Matidia.

34. Elius Verus, first adopted son of Hadrian.

35. Antoninus Pius, Imp. A.D. 138-161, second adopted son of Hadrian.

36. Faustina the elder, wife of Antoninus Pius and sister of Elius Verus.

37. Marcus Aurelius, Imp. A.D. 161-180, son of Servianus by Paulina, sister of Hadrian, adopted by Antoninus Pius, as a boy.

38. Marcus Aurelius, in later life.

39. Annia Faustina, wife of Marcus Aurelius, daughter of Antoninus Pius and Faustina the elder.

40. Galerius Antoninus, son of Antoninus Pius.

41. Lucius Verus, son-in-law of Marcus Aurelius.

42. Lucilla, wife of Lucius Verus, daughter of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina the younger. Put to death at Capri for a plot against her husband.

43. Commodus, Imp. A.D. 180-193, son of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina. Murdered in the Palace of the Cæsars.

44. Crispina, wife of Commodus. Put to death by her husband at Capri.

45. Pertinax, Imp. A.D. 193, successor of Commodus, reigned three months. Murdered in the Palace of the Cæsars.

46. Didius Julianus, Imp. A.D. 193, successor of Pertinax. Murdered in the Palace of the Cæsars.

47. Manlia Scantilla (?), wife of Didius Julianus.

48. Pescennius Niger,

49. Clodius Albinus,

—rival candidates (after murder of Didius

Julianus, A.D. 193) for the Empire, which

they failed to obtain, and were both put to death.

50, 51. Septimius Severus, Imp. A.D. 193-211, successor of Didius Julianus.

52. Julia Pia, wife of Septimius Severus.

53. Caracalla, Imp. A.D. 211-217, son of Sept. Severus and Julia Pia. Murdered.

54. Geta, brother of Caracalla, by whose order he was murdered in the arms of Julia Pia.

55. Macrinus, Imp. A.D. 217, murderer and successor of Caracalla. Murdered.

56. Diadumenianus, son of Macrinus. Murdered with his father.

57. Heliogabalus, Imp. A.D. 218—222, son of Julia Soemis, daughter of Julia Mœsa, who was sister of Julia Pia. Murdered.

58. Annia Faustina, third wife of Heliogabalus, great-granddaughter of Marcus Aurelius.

59. Julia Mœsa, sister-in-law of Septimius Severus, aunt of Caracalla, and grandmother of Alexander Severus.

60. Alexander Severus, Imp., son of Julia Mammea, second daughter of Julia Mœsa. Murdered at the age of 30.

61. Julia Mammea, daughter of Julia Mœsa, and mother of Alexander Severus. Murdered with her son.

62. Julius Maximinus, Imp. 235—238; elected by the army. Murdered.

63. Maximus. Murdered with his father, at the age of 18.

64. Gordianus Africanus, Imp. 238; a descendant of Trajan. Died by his own hand.

65. (Antoninus) Gordianus, Junior, Imp. 238, son of Gordianus Africanus and Fabia Orestella, great-granddaughter of Antoninus Pius. Died in battle.

66. Pupienus, Imp. 238,

67. Balbinus, Imp. 238,

reigned together for four months and then

were murdered.

68. Gordianus Pius, Imp. 238, grandson, through his mother, of Gordianus Africanus. Murdered.

69. Philip II., Imp. 244, son of, and co-emperor with Philip I. Murdered.

70. Decius(?), Imp. 249—251. Forcibly elected by the army. Killed in battle.

71. Quintus Herennius Etruscus, son of Decius and Herennia Etruscilla. Killed in battle with his father.

72. Hostilianus, son or son-in-law of Decius, Imp. 251, with Treb. Gallus. Murdered.

73. Trebonianus Gallus, Imp. 251—254. Murdered.

74, 75. Volusianus, son of Trebonianus Gallus. Murdered.

76. Gallienus, Imp. 261—268. Murdered.

77. Salonina, wife of Gallienus.

78. Saloninus, son of Gallienus and Salonina. Put to death by Postumus, A.D. 259, at the age of 17.

79. Marcus Aurelius Carinus, Imp. 283, son of the Emperor Carus. Murdered.

80. Diocletian, Imp. 284-305; elected by the army.

81. Constantinus Chlorus, Imp. 305-306, son of Eutropius and Claudia, niece of the Emperor Claudius and Quintilius, father of Constantine the Great.

82. Julian the Apostate, Imp. 361-363, son of Julius Constantius and nephew of Constantine the Great. Died in battle.

83. Magnus Decentius, brother of the Emperor Magnentius. Strangled himself, 353.

"In their busts the lips of the Roman emperors are generally closed, indicating reserve and dignity, free from human passions and emotions."—Winckelmann.

"At Rome the emperors become as familiar as the popes. Who does not know the curly-headed Marcus Aurelius, with his lifted brow and projecting eyes—from the full round beauty of his youth to the more haggard look of his latest years? Are there any modern portraits more familiar than the severe wedge-like head of Augustus, with his sharp cut lips and nose,—or the dull phiz of Hadrian, with his hair combed down over his low forehead,—or the vain, perking face of Lucius Verus, with his thin nose, low brow, and profusion of curls,—or the brutal bull head of Caracalla,—or the bestial, bloated features of Vitellius?

"These men, who were but lay figures to us at school, mere pegs of names to hang historic robes upon, thus interpreted by the living history of their portraits, the incidental illustrations of the places where they lived and moved and died, and the buildings and monuments they erected, become like men of yesterday. Art has made them our contemporaries. They are as near to us as Pius VII. and Napoleon."—Story's Roba di Roma.

"Nerva est le premier des bons, et Trajan le premier des grands empereurs romains; après lui il y en eut deux autres, les deux Antonins. Trois sur soixante-dix, tel est à Rome le bilan des gloires morales de l'empire."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. liii.

Among the reliefs round the upper walls of this room are two,—of Endymion sleeping, and of Perseus delivering Andromeda, which belong to the set in the Palazzo Spada, and are exceedingly beautiful.

The Hall of Illustrious Men contains a seated statue of M. Claudius Marcellus (?), the conqueror of Syracuse, B.C. 212. Round the room are ranged 93 busts of ancient philosophers, statesmen, and warriors. Among the more important are:—

4, 5, 6.

Socrates.

48.

Cneius Domitius Corbulo, general under Claudius and Nero.

9.

Aristides, the orator.

49.

Scipio Africanus.

10.

Seneca (?).

52.

Cato Minor.

16.

Marcus Agrippa.

54.

Aspasia(?).

19.

Theophrastus.

55.

Cleopatra (?).

23.

Thales.

60.

Thucydides (?).

25.

Theon.

61.

Æschines.

27.

Pythagoras.

62, 64.

Epicurus.

28.

Alexander the Great(?).

63.

Epicurus and Metrodorus.

30.

Aristophanes.

68, 69.

Masinissa.

31.

Demosthenes.

71.

Antisthenes.

38.

Aratus.

72, 73.

Julian the Apostate.

39, 40.

Democritus of Aldera.

75.

Cicero.

42, 43.

Euripides.

76.

Terence.

44, 45, 46.

Homer.

82.

Æschylus (?).

47.

Eumenides.

Among the interesting bas-reliefs in this room is one of a Roman interior with a lady trying to persuade her cat to dance to a lyre—the cat, meanwhile, snapping, on its hind legs, at two ducks; the detail of the room is given—even to the slippers under the bed.

The Saloon contains, down the centre,

1. Jupiter (in nero-antico), from Porto d'Anzio, on an altar with figures of Mercury, Apollo, and Diana.

2, 4. Centaurs (in bigio-morato), by Aristeas and Papias (their names are on the bases), from Hadrian's villa.

3. The young Hercules, found on the Aventine. It stands on an altar of Jupiter.

"On voit au Capitole une statue d'Hercule très-jeune, en basalte, qui frappe assez désagréablement, d'abord, par le contraste, habilement exprimé toutefois, des formes molles de l'enfance et de la vigueur caractéristique du héros. L'imitation de la Grèce se montre même dans la matière que l'artiste a choisie; c'est un basalt verdâtre, de couleur sombre. Tisagoras et Alcon avaient fait un Hercule en fer, pour exprimer la force, et, comme dit Pline, pour signifier l'énergie persévérante de dieu."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 406.

5. Æsculapius (in nero-antico), on an altar, representing a sacrifice.

Among the statues and busts round the room the more important are:—

9. Marcus Aurelius.

14. A Satyr.

21. Hadrian, as Mars, from Ceprano.

24. Hercules, in gilt bronze, found in the Forum-Boarium (the columns on either side come from the tomb of Cecilia Metella).

"On cite de Myron trois Hercules, dont deux à Rome; l'un de ces derniers a probablement servi de modèle à l'Hercule en bronze doré du Capitole. Cette statue a été trouvée dans le marché aux Bœufs, non loin du grand cirque. L'Hercule de Myron était dans un temple élevé par Pompée et situé près du grand cirque; mais la statue du Capitole, dont le geste est maniéré, quel que soit son mérite, n'est pas assez parfaite qu'on puisse y reconnaître une œuvre de Myron. Peut-être Pompée n'avait placé dans son temple qu'une copie de l'un des deux Hercules de Myron et la donnait pour l'original; peut-être aussi Pline y a-t-il été trompé. La vanité que l'un montre dans tous les actes de sa vie et le peu de sentiment vrai que trahit si souvent la vaste composition de l'autre s'accordent également avec cette supposition et la rendent assez vraisemblable."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 273.

28. Hecuba.

"Nous avons le personnage même d'Hécube dans la Pleureuse du Capitole. Cette prétendué pleureuse est une Hécube furieuse et une Hécube en scène, car elle porte le costume, elle a le geste et la vivacité du théâtre, je dirais volontiers de la pantomime.... Son regard est tourné vers le ciel, sa bouche lance des imprécations; on voit qu'elle pourra faire entendre ces hurlements, ces aboiements de la douleur effrénée que l'antiquité voulut exprimer en supposant que la malheureuse Hécube avait été métamorphosée en chienne, une chienne à laquelle on a arraché ses petits."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 468.

31. Colossal bust of Antoninus Pius.

The Hall of the Faun derives its name from the famous Faun of rosso-antico, holding a bunch of grapes to his mouth, found in Hadrian's Villa. It stands on an altar dedicated to Serapis. Against the right wall is a magnificent sarcophagus, whose reliefs (much studied by Flaxman) represent the battle of Theseus and the Amazons. The opposite sarcophagus has a relief of Diana and Endymion. We should also notice—

15. A boy with a mask.

21. A boy with a goose (found near the Lateran).

Let into the wall is a black tablet—the Lex Regia, or Senatus-Consultum, conferring imperial powers upon Vespasian, being the very table upon which Rienzi declaimed in favour of the rights of the people.

The Hall of the Dying Gladiator contains the three gems of the collection—"the Gladiator," "the Antinous of the Capitol," and the "Faun of Praxiteles." Besides these, we should notice—2. Apollo with the lyre, and 9. a bust of M. Junius Brutus, the assassin of Julius Cæsar.

In the centre of the room is the grand statue of the wounded Gaul, generally known as the Dying Gladiator.

"I see before me the gladiator lie:

He leans upon his hand—his manly brow

Consents to death, but conquers agony,

And his drooped head sinks gradually low,—

And through his side the last drops, ebbing slow

From the red gash, fall heavy, one by one,

Like the first of a thunder-shower; and now

The arena swims around him—he is gone,

Ere ceased the inhuman shout which hailed the wretch who won.

"He heard it, but he heeded not—his eyes

Were with his heart, and that was far away;

He reck'd not of the life he lost, nor prize,

But where his rude hut by the Danube lay

There were his young barbarians all at play,

There was their Dacian mother—he, their sire,

Butchered to make a Roman holiday.

All this rushed with his blood—shall he expire,

And unavenged? Arise, ye Goths, and glut your ire!"

Byron, Childe Harold.

It is delightful to read in this room the description in Transformation:—

"It was that room in the centre of which reclines the noble and most pathetic figure of the dying gladiator, just sinking into his death-swoon. Around the walls stand the Antinous, the Amazon, the Lycian Apollo, the Juno; all famous productions of antique sculpture, and still shining in the undiminished majesty and beauty of their ideal life, although the marble that embodies them is yellow with time, and perhaps corroded by the damp earth in which they lay buried for centuries. Here, likewise, is seen a symbol (as apt at this moment as it was two thousand years ago) of the Human Soul, with its choice of Innocence or Evil close at hand, in the pretty figure of a child, clasping a dove to her bosom, but assaulted by a snake.

"From one of the windows of this saloon, we may see a broad flight of stone steps, descending alongside the antique and massive foundation of the Capitol, towards the battered triumphal arch of Septimius Severus, right below. Farther on, the eye skirts along the edge of the desolate Forum (where Roman washerwomen hang out their linen to the sun), passing over a shapeless confusion of modern edifices, piled rudely up with ancient brick and stone, and over the domes of Christian churches, built on the old pavements of heathen temples, and supported by the very pillars that once upheld them. At a distance beyond—yet but a little way, considering how much history is heaped into the intervening space—rises the great sweep of the Coliseum, with the blue sky brightening through its upper tier of arches. Far off, the view is shut in by the Alban mountains, looking just the same, amid all this decay and change, as when Romulus gazed thitherward over his half-finished wall.

"In this chamber is the Faun of Praxiteles. It is the marble image of a young man, leaning his right arm on the trunk or stump of a tree: one hand hangs carelessly by his side, in the other he holds a fragment of a pipe, or some such sylvan instrument of music. His only garment, a lion's skin with the claws upon the shoulder, falls half-way down his back, leaving his limbs and entire front of the figure nude. The form, thus displayed, is marvellously graceful, but has a fuller and more rounded outline, more flesh, and less of heroic muscle, than the old sculptors were wont to assign to their types of masculine beauty. The character of the face corresponds with the figure; it is most agreeable in outline and feature, but rounded and somewhat voluptuously developed, especially about the throat and chin; the nose is almost straight, but very slightly curves inward, thereby acquiring an indescribable charm of geniality and humour. The mouth, with its full yet delicate lips, seems so really to smile outright, that it calls forth a responsive smile. The whole statue—unlike anything else that ever was wrought in the severe material of marble—conveys the idea of an amiable and sensual creature, easy, mirthful, apt for jollity, yet not incapable of being touched by pathos. It is impossible to gaze long at this stone image, without conceiving a kindly sentiment towards it, as if its substance were warm to the touch, and imbued with actual life. It comes very near to some of our pleasantest sympathies."—Hawthorne.

"Praxitèle avait dit à Phryné de choisir entre ses ouvrages celui qu'elle aimerait le mieux. Pour savoir lequel de ses chefs-d'œuvre l'artiste préférait, elle lui fit annoncer que le feu avait pris à son atelier. 'Sauvez, s'écria-t-il, mon Satyre et mon Amour!'"—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 309.

The west or right side of the Capitoline Piazza is occupied by the Palace of the Conservators, which contains the Protomoteca, the Picture Gallery, and various other treasures.

The little court at the entrance is full of historical relics, including remains of two gigantic statues of Apollo; a colossal head of Domitian; and the marble pedestal, which once in the mausoleum of Augustus supported the cinerary urn of Agrippina, wife of Germanicus, with a very perfect inscription. In the opposite loggia are a statue of Rome Triumphant, and a group of a lion attacking a horse, found in the bed of the Almo. In the portico on the right is the only authentic statue of Julius Cæsar; on the left, a statue of Augustus, leaning against the rostrum of a galley, in allusion to the battle of Actium.

The Protomoteca, a suite of eight rooms on the ground floor, contains a collection of busts of eminent Italians, with a few foreigners considered as naturalised by a long residence in Rome. Those in the second room, representing artists of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, were entirely executed at the expense of Canova.

At the foot of the staircase is a restoration by Michael Angelo of the column of Caius Duilius. On the upper flight of the staircase is a bas-relief of Curtius leaping into the gulf, here represented as a marsh.

"Un bas-relief d'un travail ancien, dont le style ressemble à celui des figures peintes sur les vases dits archaïques, représente Curtius engagé dans son marais; le cheval baisse la tête et flaire le marécage, qui est indiqué par des roseaux. Le guerrier penché en avant, presse sa monture. On a vivement, en présence de cette curieuse sculpture, le sentiment d'un incident héroïque probablement réel, et en même temps de l'aspect primitif du lieu qui en fut témoin."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. i. 321.

On the first and second landings are magnificent reliefs, representing events in the life of Marcus Aurelius, Imp., belonging to the arch dedicated to him, which was wantonly destroyed, in order to widen the Corso, by Alexander VII.

"Jusqu'au lègne de Commode Rome est représentée par une Amazone; dans l'escalier du palais des Conservateurs, Rome, en tunique courte d'Amazone et le globe à la main, reçoit Marc Aurèle; le globe dans la main de Rome date de César."—Ampère, iii. 242.

The Halls of the Conservators consist of eight rooms. The 1st, painted in fresco from the history of the Roman kings, by the Cavaliere d'Arpino, contains statues of Urban VIII., by Bernini; Leo X., by the Sicilian Giacomo della Duca;[41] and Innocent X., in bronze, by Algardi. The 2nd room, adorned with subjects from republican history by Lauretti, has statues of modern Roman generals—Marc Antonio Colonna, Tommaso Rospigliosi, Francesco Aldobrandini, Carlo Barberini, brother of Urban VIII., and Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma. The 3rd room, painted by Daniele di Volterra, with subjects from the wars with the Cimbri, contains the famous Bronze Wolf of the Capitol, one of the most interesting relics in the city. The figure of the wolf is of unknown antiquity; those of Romulus and Remus are modern. It has been doubted whether this is the wolf described by Dionysius as "an ancient work of brass" standing in the temple of Romulus under the Palatine, or the wolf described by Cicero, who speaks of a little gilt figure of the founder of the city sucking the teats of a wolf. The Ciceronian wolf was struck by lightning in the time of the great orator, and a fracture in the existing figure, attributed to lightning, is adduced in proof of its identity with it.

"Geminos huic ubera circum

Ludere pendentes pueros, et lambere matrem

Impavidos: illam tereti cervice reflexam

Mulcere alternos, et corpora fingere lingua."

Virgil, Æn. viii. 632.

"And thou, the thunder-stricken nurse of Rome!

She-wolf! whose brazen-imaged dugs impart

The milk of conquest yet within the dome

Where, as a monument of antique art,

Thou standest:—mother of the mighty heart,

Which the great founder sucked from thy wild teat,

Scorch'd by the Roman Jove's ethereal dart,

And thy limbs black with lightning—dost thou yet

Guard thy immortal cubs, nor thy fond charge forget?"

Byron, Childe Harold.

Standing near the wolf is the well-known and beautiful figure of a boy extracting a thorn from his foot, called the Shepherd Martius.

"La ressemblance du type si fin de l'Apollon au lézard et du charmant bronze du Capitole le tíreur d'épine est trop frappante pour qu'on puisse se refuser à voir dans celui-ci une inspiration de Praxitèle ou de son école. C'est tout simplement un enfant arrachant de son pied une épine qui l'a blessé, sujet naïf et champêtre analogue au Satyre se faisant rendre ce service par un autre Satyre. On a voulu y voir un athlète blessé par une épine pendant sa course et qui n'en est pas moins arrivé au but; mais la figure est trop jeune et n'a rien d'athlétique. Le moyen âge avait donné aussi son explication et inventé sa legende. On raccontait qu'un jeune berger, envoyé à la découverte de l'ennemi, était revenu sans s'arrêter et ne s'était permis qu'alors d'arracher une épine qui lui blessait le pied. Le moyen âge avait senti le charme de cette composition qu'il interprétait à sa manière, car elle est sculptée sur un arceau de la cathédrale de Zurich qui date du siècle de Charlemagne."—Ampère, iii. 315.

Forming part of the decorations of this room are two fine pictures, a dead Christ with a monk praying, and Sta. Francesca Romana, by Romanelli. Near the door of exit is a bust said to be that of Junius Brutus.

"Il est permis de voir dans le buste du Capitole un vrai portrait de Brutus; il est difficile d'en douter en le contemplant. Voilà bien le visage farouche, la barbe hirsute, les cheveux roides collés si rudement sur le front, la physiognomie inculte et terrible du prémier consul romain; la bouche serrée respire la détermination et l'énergie; les yeux, formés d'une matière jaunâtre, se détachent en clair sur le bronze noirci par les siècles et vous jettent un regard fixe et farouche. Tout près est la louve de bronze. Brutus est de la même famille. On sent qu'il y a du lait de cette louve dans les veines du second fondateur de Rome, comme dans les veines du premier, et que lui aussi, pareil au Romulus de la légende, marchera vers son but à travers le sang des siens.

"Le buste de Brutus est placé sur un piédestal qui le met à la hauteur du regard. Là, dans un coin sombre, j'ai passé bien des moments face à face avec l'impitoyable fondateur de la liberté romaine."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. ii. 270.

The 4th Room contains the Fasti Consulares, tables found near the temple of Minerva Chalcidica, and inscribed with the names of public officers from Romulus to Augustus. The 5th Room contains two bronze ducks (formerly shown as the sacred geese of the Capitol) and a female head—found in the gardens of Sallust, a bust of Medusa, by Bernini, and many others. The 6th, or Throne Room, hung with faded tapestry, has a frieze in fresco, by Annibale Caracci, representing the triumphs of Scipio Africanus. The 7th Room is painted by Daniele da Volterra(?) with the history of the Punic Wars. The 8th Room (now used as a passage) is a chapel, containing a lovely fresco, by Pinturicchio, of the Madonna and Child with Angels.

"The Madonna is seated enthroned, fronting the spectator; her large mantle forms a grand cast of drapery; the child on her lap sleeps in the loveliest attitude; she folds her hands and looks down, quiet, serious, and beautiful: in the clouds are two adoring angels."—Kugler.

The four Evangelists are by Caravaggio; the pictures of Roman saints (Cecilia, Alexis, Eustachio, Francesca-Romana), by Romanelli.

By the same staircase, passing on the left a wonderful relief of the apotheosis of the wicked Faustina, we may arrive at the Picture Gallery of the Capitol (which can also be approached by a separate staircase, entered from an alley at the back of the building), reached by two rooms inscribed with the names of the Roman Conservators from the middle of the sixteenth century. This gallery contains very few first-rate pictures, but has a beautiful St. Sebastian, by Guido, and several fine works of Guercino. The most noticeable pictures are—

1st Room.—

2. Disembodied Spirit (unfinished): Guido Reni.

13. St. John Baptist: Guercino.

16. Mary Magdalene: Guido Reni.

20. The Cumæan Sibyl: Domenichino.

26. Mary Magdalene: Tintoretto.

27. Presentation in the Temple: Fra. Bartolomeo.

30. Holy Family: Garofalo.

52. Madonna and Saints: Botticelli?

61. Portrait of himself: Guido Reni.

78. Madonna and Saints: F. Francia, 1513.

80. Portrait: Velasquez.

87. St. Augustine: Giovanni Bellini.

89. Romulus and Remus: Rubens.

2nd Room.—

100. Two male portraits: Vandyke.

104. Adoration of the Shepherds: Mazzolino.

106. Two Portraits: Vandyke.

116. St. Sebastian: Guido Reni.

117. Cleopatra and Augustus: Guercino.

119. St. Sebastian: Lud. Caracci.

128. Gipsy telling a fortune: Caravaggio.

132. Portrait: Giovanni Bellini.

134. Portrait of Michael Angelo: M. Venusti?

136. Petrarch: Gio. Bellini?

142. Nativity of the Virgin: Albani.

143. Sta. Petronilla: Guercino. An enormous picture, brought hither from St. Peter's, where it has been replaced by a mosaic copy. The composition is divided into two parts. The lower represents the burial of Sta. Petronilla, the upper the ascension of her spirit.

"The Apostle Peter had a daughter, born in lawful wedlock, who accompanied him in his journey from the East. Petronilla was wonderfully fair; and Valerius Flaccus, a young and noble Roman, who was a heathen, became enamoured of her beauty, and sought her for his wife; and he, being very powerful, she feared to refuse him; she therefore desired him to return in three days, and promised that he should then carry her home. But she prayed earnestly to be delivered from this peril; and when Flaccus returned in three days, with great pomp, to celebrate the marriage, he found her dead. The company of nobles who attended him, carried her to the grave, in which they laid her, crowned with roses; and Flaccus lamented greatly."—Mrs. Jameson, from the Perfetto Legendario.

199. Death and Assumption of the Virgin: Cola della Matrice.

"Here the death of the Virgin is treated at once in a mystical and dramatic style. Enveloped in a dark blue mantle, spangled with golden stars, she lies extended on a couch; St. Peter, in a splendid scarlet cope as bishop, reads the service; St. John, holding the palm, weeps bitterly. In front, and kneeling before the couch or bier, appear the three great Dominican saints as witnesses of the religious mystery; in the centre St. Dominic; on the left, St. Catherine of Siena; and on the right, St. Thomas Aquinas. In a compartment above is the Assumption."—Jameson's Legends of the Madonna, p. 315.

123. Virgin and Angels: Paul Veronese.

124. Rape of Europa: Paul Veronese.

At the head of the Capitol steps, to the right of the terrace, is the entrance to the Palazzo Caffarelli, the residence of the Prussian minister. It has a small but beautiful garden, and the view from the windows is magnificent.

"After dinner, Bunsen called for us, and took us first to his house on the Capitol, the different windows of which command the different views of ancient and modern Rome. Never shall I forget the view of the former; we looked down on the Forum, and just opposite were the Palatine and the Aventine, with the ruins of the Palace of the Cæsars on the one, and houses intermixed with gardens on the other. The mass of the Coliseum rose beyond the Forum, and beyond all, the wide plain of the Campagna to the sea. On the left rose the Alban hills, bright in the setting sun, which played full upon Frescati and Albano, and the trees which edge the lake, and further away in the distance, it lit up the old town of Labicum."—Arnold's Letters.

From the further end of the courtyard of the Caffarelli Palace one can look down upon part of the bare cliff of the Rupe Tarpeia. Here there existed till 1868 a small court, which is represented as the scene of the murder in Hawthorne's Marble Faun, or "Transformation." The door, the niche in the wall, and all other details mentioned in the novel, were realities. The character of the place is now changed by the removal of the boundary-wall. The part of the rock seen from here is that usually visited from below by the Via Tor de' Specchi.

To reach the principal portion of the south-eastern height of the Capitol, we must ascend the staircase beyond the Palace of the Conservators, on the right. Here we shall find ourselves upon the highest part of

"The Tarpeian rock, the citadel

Of great and glorious Rome, queen of the earth,

So far renown'd, and with the spoils enriched

Of nations."

Paradise Regained.

"The steep

Tarpeian, fittest goal of treason's race,

The promontory whence the traitor's leap

Cured all ambition."

Childe Harold.

The dirty lane, with its shabby houses, and grass-grown spaces, and filthy children, has little to remind one of the appearance of the hill as seen by Virgil and Propertius, who speak of the change in their time from an earlier aspect.

"Hinc ad Tarpeiam sedem, et Capitolia ducit,

Aurea nunc, olim, silvestribus horrida dumis,

Jam tum religio pavidos terrebat agrestes

Dira loci; jam tum silvam saxumque tremebant."

Virgil, Æn. viii. 347.

"Hoc quodcumque vides, hospes, qua maxima Roma est,

Ante Phrygem Aeneam collis et herba fuit."

Propertius, iv. eleg. I.

It was on this side that the different attacks were made upon the Capitol. The first was by the Sabine Herdonius at the head of a band of slaves, who scaled the heights and surprised the garrison, in B.C. 460, and from the heights of the citadel proclaimed freedom to all slaves who should join him, with abolition of debts, and defence of the plebs from their oppressors; but his offers were disregarded, and on the fourth day the Capitol was re-taken, and he was slain with nearly all his followers. The second attack was by the Gauls, who, according to the well-known story, climbed the rock near the Porta Carmentale, and had nearly reached the summit unobserved—for the dogs neglected to bark—when the cries of the sacred geese of Juno aroused an officer named Manlius, who rushed to the defence, and hurled over the precipice the first assailant, who dragged down others in his fall, and thus the Capitol was saved. In remembrance of this incident, a goose was annually carried in triumph, and a dog annually crucified upon the Capitol, between the temple of Summanus and that of Youth.[42] This was the same Manlius, the friend of the people, who was afterwards condemned by the patricians on pretext that he wished to make himself king, and thrown from the Tarpeian rock, on the same spot, in sight of the Forum, where Spurius Cassius, an ex-consul, had been thrown down before. To visit the part of the rock from which these executions must have taken place, it is necessary to enter a little garden near the German Hospital, whence there is a beautiful view of the river and the Aventine.

"Quand on veut visiter la roche Tarpéienne, on sonne à une porte de peu d'apparence, sur laquelle sont écrits ces mots: Rocca Tarpeia. Une pauvre femme arrive et vous mène dans un carré de choux. C'est de là qu'on précipita Manlius. Je serais desolé que le carré de choux manquât."—Ampère, Portraits de Rome.

This side of the Intermontium is now generally known as Monte Caprino, a name which Ampère derives from the fact that Vejovis, the Etruscan ideal of Jupiter, was always represented with a goat.[43] On this side of the hill, the viaduct from the Palatine, built by Caligula (who affected to require it to facilitate communication with his friend Jupiter), joined the Capitoline.

We have still to examine the north-eastern height, the site of the most interesting of pagan temples, now occupied by one of the most interesting of Christian churches. The name of the famous Church of Ara-Cœli is generally attributed to an altar erected by Augustus to commemorate the Delphic oracle respecting the coming of our Saviour, which is still recognised in the well-known hymn of the Church:

Teste David cum Sibylla.[44]

The altar bore the inscription "Ara Primogeniti Dei." Those who seek a more humble origin for the church, say that the name merely dates from mediæval times, when it was called "Sta, Maria in Aurocœlio." It originally belonged to the Benedictine Order, but was transferred to the Franciscans by Innocent IV. in 1252, since which time its convent has occupied an important position as the residence of the General of the Minor Franciscans (Grey-friars), and is the centre of religious life in that Order.

The staircase on the left of the Senators' palace, which leads to the side entrance of Ara-Cœli, is in itself full of historical associations. It was at its head that Valerius the consul was killed in the conflict with Herdonius for the possession of the Capitol. It was down the ancient steps on this site that Annius, the envoy of the Latins, fell (B.C. 340), and was nearly killed, after his audacious proposition in the temple of Jupiter, that the Latins and Romans should become one nation, and have a common senate and consuls. Here also,[45] in B.C. 133, Tiberius Gracchus was knocked down with the leg of a chair, and killed in front of the temple of Jupiter.

It is at the top of these steps, that the monks of Ara-Cœli, who are celebrated as dentists, perform their hideous, but useful and gratuitous operations, which may be witnessed here every morning!

Over the side entrance of Ara-Cœli is a beautiful mosaic of the Virgin and Child. This, with the ancient brick arches above, framing fragments of deep blue sky—and the worn steps below—forms a subject dear to Roman artists, and is often introduced as a background to groups of monks and peasants. The interior of the church is vast, solemn, and highly picturesque. It was here, as Gibbon himself tells us, that on the 15th of October, 1764, as he sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the bare-footed friars were singing vespers, the idea of writing the "Decline and Fall" of the city first started to his mind.

"As we lift the great curtain and push into the church, a faint perfume of incense salutes the nostrils. The golden sunset bursts in as the curtain of the (west) door sways forward, illuminates the mosaic floor, catches on the rich golden ceiling, and flashes here and there over the crowd (gathered in Epiphany), on some brilliant costume or closely shaven head. All sorts of people are thronging there, some kneeling before the shrine of the Madonna, which gleams with its hundreds of silver votive hearts, legs, and arms, some listening to the preaching, some crowding round the chapel of the Presepio. Old women, haggard and wrinkled, come tottering along with their scaldini of coals, drop down on their knees to pray, and, as you pass, interpolate in their prayers a parenthesis of begging. The church is not architecturally handsome, but it is eminently picturesque, with its relics of centuries, its mosaic pulpits and floors, its frescoes of Pinturicchio and Pesaro, its antique columns, its rich golden ceiling, its gothic mausoleum to the Savelli, and its mediæval tombs. A dim, dingy look is over all—but it is the dimness of faded splendour; and one cannot stand there, knowing the history of the church, its great antiquity, and the varied fortunes it has known, without a peculiar sense of interest and pleasure.

"It was here that Romulus in the grey dawning of Rome built the temple of Jupiter Feretrius. Here the spolia opima were deposited. Here the triumphal processions of the emperors and generals ended. Here the victors paused before making their vows, until, from the Mamertine prisons below, the message came to announce that their noblest prisoner and victim—while the clang of their triumph and his defeat rose ringing in his ears, as the procession ascended the steps—had expiated with death the crime of being the enemy of Rome. On the steps of Ara-Cœli, nineteen centuries ago, the first great Cæsar climbed on his knees after his first triumph. At their base, Rienzi, the last of the Roman tribunes, fell—and if the tradition of the Church is to be trusted, it was on the site of the present high altar that Augustus erected the 'Ara Primogeniti Dei,' to commemorate the Delphic prophecy of the coming of our Saviour. Standing on a spot so thronged with memories, the dullest imagination takes fire. The forms and scenes of the past rise from their graves and pass before us, and the actual and visionary are mingled together in strange poetic confusion."—Roba di Roma, i. 73.

The floor of the church is of the ancient mosaic known as Opus Alexandrinum. The nave is separated from the aisles by twenty-two ancient columns, of which two are of cipollino, two of white marble, and eighteen of Egyptian granite. They are of very different forms and sizes, and have probably been collected from various pagan edifices. The inscription "A Cubiculo Augustorum" upon the third column on the left of the nave, shows that it was brought from the Palace of the Cæsars. The windows in this church are amongst the few in Rome which show traces of gothic. At the end of the nave, on either side, are two ambones, marking the position of the choir before it was extended to its present site in the sixteenth century.

The transepts are full of interesting monuments. That on the right is the burial-place of the great family of Savelli, and contains—on the left, the monument of Luca Savelli, 1266 (father of Pope Honorius IV.) and his son Pandolfo,—an ancient and richly sculptured sarcophagus, to which a gothic canopy was added by Agostino and Agnolo da Siena from designs of Giotto. Opposite, is the tomb of the mother of Honorius, Vana Aldobrandesca, upon which is the statue of the pope himself, removed from his monument in the old St. Peter's by Paul III.

On the left of the high altar is the tomb of Cardinal Gianbattista Savelli, ob. 1498, and near it—in the pavement, the half-effaced gravestone of Sigismondo Conti, whose features are so familiar to us from his portrait introduced into the famous picture of the Madonna di Foligno, which was painted by Raphael at his order, and presented by him to this church, where it remained over the high altar, till 1565, when his great niece Anna became a nun at the convent of the Contesse at Foligno, and was allowed to carry it away with her. In the east transept is another fine gothic tomb, that of Cardinal Matteo di Acquasparta (1302), a General of the Franciscans mentioned by Dante for his wise and moderate rule.[46] The quaint chapel in the middle of this transept, now dedicated to St. Helena, is supposed to occupy the site of the "Ara Primogeniti Dei."

Upon the pier near the ambone of the gospel is the monument of Queen Catherine of Bosnia, who died at Rome in 1478, bequeathing her states to the Roman Church on condition of their reversion to her son, who had embraced Mahommedanism, if he should return to the Catholic faith. Near this, upon the transept wall, is the tomb of Felice de Fredis, ob. 1529, upon which it is recorded that he was the finder of the Laocoon. The Chapel of the Annunciation, opening from the west isle, has a tomb to G. Crivelli, by Donatello, bearing his signature, "Opus Donatelli Florentini." The Chapel of Santa Croce is the burial-place of the Ponziani family, and was the scene of the celebrated ecstasy of the favourite Roman saint Francesca Romana.

"The mortal remains of Vanozza Ponziani (sister-in-law of Francesca) were laid in the church of Ara-Cœli, in the chapel of Santa Croce. The Roman people resorted there in crowds to behold once more their loved benefactress—the mother of the poor, the consoler of the afflicted. All strove to carry away some little memorial of one who had gone about among them doing good, and during the three days which preceded the interment, the concourse did not abate. On the day of the funeral Francesca knelt on one side of the coffin, and, in sight of all the crowd, she was wrapped in ecstasy. They saw her body lifted from the ground, and a seraphic expression in her uplifted face. They heard her murmur several times with an indescribable emphasis the word 'Quando? Quando?' When all was over, she still remained immoveable; it seemed as if her soul had risen on the wings of prayer, and followed Vanozza's spirit into the realms of bliss. At last her confessor ordered her to rise and go and attend on the sick. She instantly complied, and walked away to the hospital which she had founded, apparently unconscious of everything about her, and only roused from her trance by the habit of obedience, which, in or out of ecstasy, never forsook her."—Lady Georgiana Fullerton's Life of Sta. Fr. Romana.

There are several good pictures over the altars in the aisles of Ara-Cœli. In the Chapel of St Margaret of Cortona are frescoes illustrative of her life by Filippo Evangelisti,—in that of S. Antonio, frescoes by Nicola da Pesaro;—but no one should omit visiting the first chapel on the right of the west door, dedicated to S. Bernardino of Siena, and painted by Bernardino Pinturicchio, who has put forth his best powers to do honour to his patron saint with a series of exquisite frescoes, representing his assuming the monastic habit, his preaching, his vision of the Saviour, his penitence, death, and burial.

Almost opposite this—closed except during Epiphany—is the Chapel of the Presepio, where the famous image of the Santissimo Bambino d'Ara Cœli is shown at that season lying in a manger.

"The simple meaning of the term Presepio is a manger; but it is also used in the Church to signify a representation of the birth of Christ. In the Ara-Cœli the whole of one of the side-chapels is devoted to this exhibition. In the foreground is a grotto, in which is seated the Virgin Mary, with Joseph at her side and the miraculous Bambino in her lap. Immediately behind are an ass and an ox. On one side kneel the shepherds and kings in adoration; and above, God the Father is seen surrounded by crowds of cherubs and angels playing on instruments, as in the early pictures of Raphael. In the background is a scenic representation of a pastoral landscape, on which all the skill of the scene-painter is expended. Shepherds guard their flocks far away, reposing under palm-trees or standing on green slopes which glow in the sunshine. The distances and perspective are admirable. In the middle ground is a crystal fountain of glass, near which sheep, preternaturally white, and made of real wool and cotton wool, are feeding, tended by figures of shepherds carved in wood. Still nearer come women bearing great baskets of real oranges and other fruits on their heads. All the nearer figures are full-sized, carved in wood, painted, and dressed in appropriate robes. The miraculous Bambino is a painted doll swaddled in a white dress, which is crusted over with magnificent diamonds, emeralds, and rubies. The Virgin also wears in her ears superb diamond pendants. The general effect of the scenic show is admirable, and crowds flock to it and press about it all day long.

"While this is taking place on one side of the church, on the other is a very different and quite as singular an exhibition. Around one of the antique columns a stage is erected, from which little maidens are reciting, with every kind of pretty gesticulation, sermons, dialogues, and little speeches, in explanation of the Presepio opposite. Sometimes two of them are engaged in alternate questions and answers about the mysteries of the Incarnation and the Redemption. Sometimes the recitation is a piteous description of the agony of the Saviour and the sufferings of the Madonna, the greatest stress being, however, always laid upon the latter. All these little speeches have been written for them by their priest or some religious friend, committed to memory, and practised with appropriate gestures over and over again at home. Their little piping voices are sometimes guilty of such comic breaks and changes, that the crowd about them rustles into a murmurous laughter. Sometimes, also, one of the little preachers has a dispetto, pouts, shakes her shoulders, and refuses to go on with her part; another, however, always stands ready on the platform to supply the vacancy, until friends have coaxed, reasoned, or threatened the little pouter into obedience. These children are often very beautiful and graceful, and their comical little gestures and intonations, their clasping of hands and rolling up of eyes, have a very amusing and interesting effect."—Story's Roba di Roma.

At other times the Bambino dwells in the inner Sacristy, where it can be visited by admiring pilgrims. It is a fresh-coloured doll, tightly swathed in gold and silver tissue, crowned, and sparkling with jewels. It has servants of its own, and a carriage in which it drives out with its attendants, and goes to visit the sick. Devout peasants always kneel as the blessed infant passes. Formerly it was taken to sick persons and left on their beds for some hours, in the hope that it would work a miracle. Now it is never left alone. In explanation of this, it is said that an audacious woman formed the design of appropriating to herself the holy image and its benefits. She had another doll prepared of the same size and appearance as the "Santissimo," and having feigned sickness, and obtained permission to have it left with her, she dressed the false image in its clothes, and sent it back to Ara-Cœli. The fraud was not discovered till night, when the Franciscan monks were awakened by the most furious ringing of bells and by thundering knocks at the west door of the church, and hastening thither could see nothing but a wee naked pink foot peeping in from under the door; but when they opened the door, without stood the little naked figure of the true Bambino of Ara-Cœli, shivering in the wind and the rain,—so the false baby was sent back in disgrace, and the real baby restored to its home, never to be trusted away alone any more.

In the sacristy is the following inscription relating to the Bambino:—

"Ad hoc sacellum Ara Cœli a festo nativitatis domini usque ad festum Epiphaniæ magna populi frequentia invisitur et colitur in presepio Christi nati infantuli simulacrum ex oleæ ligno apud montem olivarum Hierosolymis a quodam devoto Minorita sculptum eo animo, ut ad hoc festum celebrandum deportaretur. De quo in primis hoc accidit, quod deficiente colore inter barbaras gentes ad plenam infantuli figurationem et formam, devotus et anxius artifex, professione laicus, precibus et orationibus impetravit, ut sacrum simulacrum divinitus carneo colore perfunctum reperiretur. Cumque navi Italiam veheretur, facto naufragio apud Tusciæ oras, simulacri capsa Liburnum appulit. Ex quo, recognita, expectabatur, enim a Fratribus, et jam fama illius a Hierosolymis ad nostras familiæ partes advenerat, ad destinatam sibi Capitolii sedem devenit. Fertur etiam, quod aliquando ex nimia devotione à quadam devota fœmina sublatum ad suas ædes miraculosè remeaverit. Quapropter in maxima veneratione semper est habitum a Romanis civibus, et universo populo donatum monilibus, et jocalibus pretiosis, liberalioribusque in dies prosequitur oblationibus."

The outer Sacristy contains a fine picture of the Holy Family by Giulio Romano.

The scene on the long flight of steps which leads to the west door of Ara-Cœli is very curious during Epiphany.

"If any one visit the Ara-Cœli during an afternoon in Christmas or Epiphany, the scene is very striking. The flight of one hundred and twenty-four steps is then thronged by merchants of Madonna wares, who spread them out over the steps and hang them against the walls and balustrades. Here are to be seen all sorts of curious little coloured prints of the Madonna and Child of the most extraordinary quality, little bags, pewter medals, and crosses stamped with the same figures and to be worn on the neck—all offered at once for the sum of one baiocco. Here also are framed pictures of the saints, of the Nativity, and in a word of all sorts of religious subjects appertaining to the season. Little wax dolls, clad in cotton-wool to represent the Saviour, and sheep made of the same materials, are also sold by the basket-full. Children and Contadini are busy buying them, and there is a deafening roar all up and down the steps, of 'Mezzo baiocco, bello colorito, mezzo baiocco, la Santissima Concezione Incoronata,'—'Diario Romano, Lunario Romano nuovo,'—'Ritratto colorito, medaglia e quadruccio, un baiocco tutti, un baiocco tutti,'—'Bambinella di cera, un baiocco.' None of the prices are higher than one baiocco, except to strangers, and generally several articles are held up together, enumerated, and proffered with a loud voice for this sum. Meanwhile men, women, children, priests, beggars, soldiers, and villani are crowding up and down, and we crowd with them."—Roba di Roma, i. 72.

"On the sixth of January the lofty steps of Ara-Cœli looked like an ant-hill, so thronged were they with people. Men and boys who sold little books (legends and prayers), rosaries, pictures of saints, medallions, chestnuts, oranges, and other things, shouted and made a great noise. Little boys and girls were still preaching zealously in the church, and people of all classes were crowding thither. Processions advanced with the thundering cheerful music of the fire-corps. Il Bambino, a painted image of wood, covered with jewels, and with a yellow crown on its head, was carried by a monk in white gloves, and exhibited to the people from a kind of altar-like erection at the top of the Ara-Cœli steps. Everybody dropped down upon their knees; Il Bambino was shown on all sides, the music thundered, and the smoking censers were swung."—Frederika Bremer.

The Convent of Ara-Cœli contains much that is picturesque and interesting. S. Giovanni Capistrano was abbot here in the reign of Eugenius IV.

Let us now descend from the Capitoline Piazza towards the Forum, by the staircase on the left of the Palace of the Senator. Close to the foot of this staircase is a church, very obscure-looking, with some rude frescoes on the exterior. Yet every one must enter this building, for here are the famous Mamertine Prisons, excavated from the solid rock under the Capitol.

The prisons are entered through the low Church of S. Pietro in Carcere, hung round with votive offerings and blazing with lamps.

"There is an upper chamber in the Mamertine Prisons, over what is said to have been—and very possibly may have been—the dungeon of St. Peter. The chamber is now fitted up as an oratory, dedicated to that saint; and it lives, as a distinct and separate place, in my recollection, too. It is very small and low-roofed; and the dread and gloom of the ponderous, obdurate old prison are on it, as if they had come up in a dark mist through the floor. Hanging on the walls, among the clustered votive offerings, are objects, at once strangely in keeping and strangely at variance with the place—rusty daggers, knives, pistols, clubs, divers instruments of violence and murder, brought here, fresh from use, and hung up to propitiate offended Heaven; as if the blood upon them would drain off in consecrated air, and have no voice to cry with. It is all so silent and so close, and tomblike; and the dungeons below are so black, and stealthy, and stagnant, and naked; that this little dark spot becomes a dream within a dream: and in the vision of great churches which come rolling past me like a sea, it is a small wave by itself, that melts into no other wave, and does not flow on with the rest."—Dickens.

Enclosed in the church, near the entrance, may be observed the outer frieze of the prison wall, with the inscription C. TIBIUS. C. F. RUFINUS. M.. COCCEIUS. NERVA. COS. EX. S. C., recording the names of two consuls of A.D. 22, who are supposed to have repaired the prison. Juvenal's description of the time when one prison was sufficient for all the criminals in Rome naturally refers to this building:

"Felices proavorum atavos, felicia dicas

Sæcula, quæ quondam sub regibus atque tribunis

Viderunt uno contentam carcere Romam."

Sat. iii. 312.

A modern staircase leads to the horrible dungeon of Ancus Martius, sixteen feet in height, thirty in length, and twenty-two in breadth. Originally there was no staircase, and the prisoners were let down there, and thence into the lower dungeon, through a hole in the middle of the ceiling. The large door at the side is a modern innovation, having been opened to admit the vast mass of pilgrims during the festa. The whole prison is constructed of huge blocks of tufa without cement. Some remains are shown of the Scalæ Gemoniæ, so called from the groans of the prisoners—by which the bodies were dragged forth to be exposed to the insults of the populace or to be thrown into the Tiber. It was by this staircase that Cicero came forth and announced the execution of the Catiline conspirators to the people in the Forum, by the single word Vixerunt, "they have ceased to live." Close to the exit of these stairs the Emperor Vitellius was murdered. On the wall by which you descend to the lower dungeon is a mark, kissed by the faithful, as the spot against which St. Peter's head rested. The lower prison, called Robur, is constructed of huge blocks of tufa, fastened together by cramps of iron and approaching horizontally to a common centre in the roof. It has been attributed from early times to Servius Tullius; but Ampère[47] argues against the idea that the lower prison was of later origin than the upper, and suggests that it is Pelasgic, and older than any other building in Rome. It is described by Livy, and by Sallust, who depicts its horrors in his account of the execution of the Catiline conspirators.[48] The spot is shown to which these victims were attached and strangled in turn. In this dungeon, at an earlier period, Appius Claudius and Oppius the decemvirs committed suicide (B.C. 449). Here Jugurtha, king of Mauritania, was starved to death by Marius. Here Julius Cæsar, during his triumph for the conquest of Gaul, caused his gallant enemy Vercingetorix to be put to death. Here Sejanus, the friend and minister of Tiberius, disgraced too late, was executed for the murder of Drusus, son of the emperor, and for an intrigue with his daughter-in-law, Livilla. Here, also, Simon Bar-Gioras, the last defender of Jerusalem, suffered during the triumph of Titus.

The spot is more interesting to the Christian world as the prison of SS. Peter and Paul, who are said to have been bound for nine months to a pillar, which is shown here. A fountain of excellent water, beneath the floor of the prison, is attributed to the prayers of St. Peter, that he might have wherewith to baptize his gaolers, Processus and Martinianus; but, unfortunately for this ecclesiastical tradition, the fountain is described by Plutarch as having existed at the time of Jugurtha's imprisonment This fountain probably gave the dungeon the name of Tullianum, by which it was sometimes known, tullius meaning a spring.[49] This name probably gave rise to the idea of its connection with Servius Tullius.

It is hence that the Roman Catholic Church believes that St. Peter and St Paul addressed their farewells to the Christian world.

That of St. Peter:—

"Shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.... Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."—2nd St. Peter.

That of St. Paul:—

"God hath not given us a spirit of fear.... Be not thou, therefore, ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner; but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.... I suffer trouble as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound. Therefore I endure all things, for the elect's sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus.... I charge thee by God and by the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead ... preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine; ... watch in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."—2nd Timothy.

On July 4, the prisons are the scene of a picturesque solemnity, when they are visited at night by the religious confraternities, who first kneel and then prostrate themselves in silent devotion.

Above the Church of S. Pietro in Carcere, is that of S. Giuseppe del Falegnami, St. Joseph of the Carpenters.

"Pourquoi les guides et les antiquaires qui nous ont si souvent montré la voie triomphale qui mène au Capitale et nous en ont tant de fois énuméré les souvenirs; pourquoi aucun d'eux ne nous a-t-il jamais parlé de ce qui survint le jour du triomphe de Titus, là-bas, près des prisons Mamertines? Laisse-moi vous rappeler que ce jour-là le triomphateur, au moment de monter au temple, devant verser le sang d'une victime, s'arrêta à cette place, tandis que l'on détachait de son cortége un captif de plus haute taille et plus richement vêtu que les autres, et qu'on l'emmenait dans cette prison pour y achever son supplice avec le lacet même qu'il portait autour du cou. Ce ne fût qu'après cette immolation que le cortége reprit sa marche et acheva de monter jusqu'au Capitole! Ce captif dont on ne daigne nous parler, c'était Simon Bar-Gioras; c'était un des trois derniers défenseurs de Jérusalem; c'était un de ceux qui la défendirent jusqu'au bout, mais hélas! qui la défendirent comme des démons maîtres d'une âme de laquelle ils ne veulent pas se laisser chasser, et non point comme des champions héroïques d'une cause sacrée et perdue. Aussi cette grandeur que la seule infortune suffit souvent pour donner, elle manque à la calamité la plus grande que le monde ait vue, et les noms attachés à cette immense catastrophe ne demeurèrent pas même fameux! Jean de Giscala, Eléazar, Simon Bar-Gioras; qui pense à eux aujourd'hui? L'univers entier proclame et vénère les noms de deux pauvres juifs qui, quatre ans auparavant, dans cette même prison, avaient eux aussi attendu la supplice; mais le malheur, le courage, la mort tragique des autres, ne leur ont point donné la gloire, et un dédaigneux oubli les a effacés de la mémoire des hommes!"—(Anne Severin) Mrs. Augustus Craven.

"Along the sacred way

Hither the triumph came, and, winding round

With acclamation, and the martial clang

Of instruments, and cars laden with spoil,

Stopped at the sacred stair that then appeared,

Then thro' the darkness broke, ample, star-bright,

As tho' it led to heaven. 'Twas night; but now

A thousand torches, turning night to day,

Blazed, and the victor, springing from his seat,

Went up, and, kneeling as in fervent prayer,

Entered the Capitol. But what are they

Who at the foot withdraw, a mournful train

In fetters? And who, yet incredulous,

Now gazing wildly round, now on his sons,

On those so young, well pleased with all they see,

Staggers along, the last? They are the fallen,

Those who were spared to grace the chariot-wheels;

And there they parted, where the road divides,

The victor and the vanquished—there withdrew;

He to the festal board, and they to die.

"Well might the great, the mighty of the world,

They who were wont to fare deliciously

And war but for a kingdom more or less,

Shrink back, nor from their thrones endure to look,

To think that way! Well might they in their pomp

Humble themselves, and kneel and supplicate

To be delivered from a dream like this!"

Rogers' Italy.

CHAPTER IV.

THE FORUMS AND THE COLISEUM.

Forum of Trajan—(Sta. Maria di Loreto)—Temple of Mars Ultor—Forum of Augustus—Forum of Nerva—Forum of Julius Cæsar—(Academy of St. Luke)—Forum Romanum—Tribune—Comitium —Vulcanal—Temple of Concord—Temple of Vespasian—Temple of Saturn—Arch of Septimius Severus—Temple of Castor and Pollux—Pillar of Phocas—Temple of Antoninus and Faustina—Basilica of Constantine—(Sta. Martina—S. Adriano—Sta. Maria—Liberatrice, SS. Cosmo and Damian—Sta. Francesca Romana)—Temple of Venus and Rome—Arch of Titus—(Sta. Maria Pallara—S. Buonaventura)—Meta Sudans—Arch of Constantine—Coliseum.

FOLLOWING the Corso to its end at the Ripresa dei Barberi, and turning to the left, we find ourselves at once amid the remains of the Forum of Trajan, erected by the architect Apollodorus for the Emperor Trajan on his return from the wars of the Danube. This forum now presents the appearance of a ravine between the Capitoline and Quirinal, but is an artificial hollow, excavated to facilitate the circulation of life within the city. An inscription over the door of the column, which overtops the other ruins, shows that it was raised in order to mark the depth of earth which was removed to construct the forum. The earth was formerly as high as the top of the column, which reaches, 100 Roman feet, to the level of the Palatine Hill. The forum was sometimes called the "Ulpian," from one of the names of the emperor.

"Before the year A.D. 107 the splendours of the city and the Campus beyond it were still separated by a narrow isthmus, thronged perhaps by the squalid cabins of the poor, and surmounted by the remains of the Servian wall which ran along its summit. Step by step the earlier emperors had approached with their new forums to the foot of this obstruction. Domitian was the first to contemplate and commence its removal. Nerva had the fortune to consecrate and to give his own name to a portion of his predecessor's construction; but Trajan undertook to complete the bold design, and the genius of his architect triumphed over all obstacles, and executed a work which exceeded in extent and splendour any previous achievement of the kind. He swept away every building on the site, levelled the spot on which they had stood, and laid out a vast area of columnar galleries, connecting halls and chambers for public use and recreation. The new forum was adorned with two libraries, one for Greek, the other for Roman volumes, and it was bounded on the west by a basilica of magnificent dimensions. Beyond this basilica, and within the limits of the Campus, the same architect (Apollodorus) erected a temple for the worship of Trajan himself; but this work probably belonged to the reign of Trajan's successor, and no doubt the Ulpian forum, with all its adjuncts, occupied many years in building. The area was adorned with numerous statues, in which the figure of Trajan was frequently repeated, and among its decorations were groups in bronze or marble, representing his most illustrious actions. The balustrades and cornices of the whole mass of buildings flamed with gilded images of arms and horses. Here stood the great equestrian statue of the emperor; here was the triumphal arch decreed him by the senate, adorned with sculpture, which Constantine, two centuries later, transferred without a blush to his own, a barbarous act of this first Christian emperor, to which however we probably owe their preservation to this day from more barbarous spoliation."—Merivale, Romans under the Empire, ch. lxiii.

The beautiful Column of Trajan was erected by the senate and people of Rome, A.D. 114. It is composed of thirty-four blocks of marble, and is covered with a spiral band of bas-reliefs illustrative of the Dacian wars, and increasing in size as it nears the top, so that it preserves throughout the same proportion when seen from below. It was formerly crowned by a statue of Trajan, holding a gilt globe, which latter is still preserved in the Hall of Bronzes in the Capitol. This statue had fallen from its pedestal long before Sixtus V. replaced it by the existing figure of St. Peter. At the foot of the column was a sepulchral chamber, intended to receive the imperial ashes, which were however preserved in a golden urn, upon an altar in front of it.

"And apostolic statues climb

To crush the imperial urn, whose ashes slept sublime."

Childe Harold, cx.

It was while walking in this forum, that Gregory the Great, observing one of the marble groups which told of a good and great action of Trajan, lamented bitterly that the soul of so noble a man should be lost, and prayed earnestly for the salvation of the heathen emperor. He was told that the soul of Trajan should be saved, but that to ensure this he must either himself undergo the pains of purgatory for three days, or suffer earthly pain and sickness for the rest of his life. He chose the latter, and never after was in health. This incident is narrated by his three biographers, John and Paul Diaconus, and John of Salisbury.[50]

The forum of Trajan was partly uncovered by Pope Paul III. in the sixteenth century, but excavated in its present form by the French in 1812. There is much still buried under the streets and neighbouring houses.

"All over the surface of what once was Rome it seems to be the effort of Time to bury up the ancient city, as it were a corpse, and he the sexton; so that, in eighteen centuries, the soil over its grave has grown very deep, by the slow scattering of dust, and the accumulation of more modern decay upon older ruin.

"This was the fate, also, of Trajan's forum, until some papal antiquary, a few hundred years ago, began to hollow it out again, and disclosed the whole height of the gigantic column, wreathed round with bas-reliefs of the old emperor's warlike deeds (rich sculpture, which, twining from the base to the capital, must be an ugly spectacle for his ghostly eyes, if he considers that this huge, storied shaft must be laid before the judgment seat, as a piece of the evidence of what he did in the flesh). In the area before the column stands a grove of stone, consisting of the broken and unequal shafts of a vanished temple, still keeping a majestic order, and apparently incapable of further demolition. The modern edifices of the piazza (wholly built, no doubt, out of the spoil of its old magnificence) look down into the hollow space whence these pillars rise.

"One of the immense gray granite shafts lies in the piazza, on the verge of the area. It is a great, solid fact of the Past, making old Rome actually visible to the touch and eye; and no study of history, nor force of thought, nor magic of song, can so vitally assure us that Rome once existed, as this sturdy specimen of what its rulers and people wrought. There is still a polish remaining on the hard substance of the pillar, the polish of eighteen centuries ago, as yet but half rubbed off."—Hawthorne, Transformation.

On the north of this forum are two churches: that nearest to the Corso is Sta. Maria di Loreto (founded by the corporation of bakers in 1500), with a dome surmounted by a picturesque lantern by Giuliano di Sangallo, c. 1506. It contains a statue of Sta. Susanna (not the Susanna of the Elders) by Fiammingo (François de Quesnoy), which is justly considered the chef-d'œuvre of the Bernini School. The companion church is called Sta. Maria di Vienna, and (like Sta. Maria della Vittoria) commemorates the liberation of Vienna from the Turks in 1683, by Sobieski, king of Poland. It was built by Innocent XI.

Leaving the forum at the opposite corner by the Via Alessandrina, and passing under the high wall of the Convent of the Nunziatina, a street, opening on the left, discloses several beautiful pillars, which, after having borne various names, are now declared to be the remains of the Temple of Mars Ultor, built by Augustus in his new forum, which was erected in order to provide accommodation for the crowds which overflowed the Forum Romanum and Forum Julium.

"The title of Ultor marked the war and the victory by which, agreeably to his vow, Augustus had avenged his uncle's death.

"'Mars ades, et satia scelerato sanguine ferrum;

Stetque favor causa pro meliore tuus.

Templa feres, et, me victore, vocaberis Ultor.'[51]

The porticoes, which extended on each side of the temple with a gentle curve, contained statues of distinguished Roman generals. The banquets of the Salii were transferred to this temple, a circumstance which led to its identification, from the discovery of an inscription here recording the mansiones of these priests. Like the priesthood in general, they appear to have been fond of good living, and there is a well-known anecdote of the Emperor Claudius having been lured by the steams of their banquet from his judicial functions in the adjacent forum, to come and take part in their feast. The temple was appropriated to meetings of the senate in which matters connected with wars and triumphs were debated.... Here while Tiberius was building a temple to Augustus upon the Palatine, his golden statue reposed upon a couch."—Dyer's City of Rome.

"Up to the time of Augustus, the god Mars, the reputed father of the Roman race, had never, it is said, enjoyed the distinction of a temple within the walls. He was then introduced into the city which he had saved from overthrow and ruin; and the aid he had lent in bringing the murderers of Cæsar to justice, was signalised by the title of Avenger, by which he was now specially addressed.... The temple of Mars Ultor, of gigantic proportions, 'Et deus est ingens et opus,' was erected in the new forum of Augustus at the foot of the Capitoline and Quirinal hills."—Merivale, Romans under the Empire.

"Ce temple était particulièrement cher à Auguste. Il voulut que les magistrats en partissent pour aller dans leurs provinces; que l'honneur du triomphe y fût décerné, et que les triomphateurs y fissent hommage à Mars Vengeur de leur couronne et de leur sceptre; que les drapeaux pris à l'ennemi y fussent conservés; que les chefs de la cavalerie exécutassent des jeux en avant des marches de ce temple; enfin que les censeurs, en sortant de leur charge, y plantassent le clou sacré, vieil usage étrusque jusque-là attaché au Capitole. Auguste désirait que ce temple fondé par lui prît l'importance du Capitole.

"Il fit dédier le temple par ses petit-fils Caius et Lucius; et son autre petit-fils, Agrippa, à la tête des plus nobles enfants de Rome, y célébra le jeu de Troie, qui rappelait l'origine prétendue troyenne de César; deux cent soixante lions furent égorgés dans la cirque, c'était leur place; deux troupes de gladiateurs combattirent dans les Septa ou se faisaient les élections au temps de la république, comme si Auguste eût voulu, par ces combats qui se livraient en l'honneur des morts, célébrer les funérailles de la liberté romaine."—Ampère, Emp. i. 224.

The temple of Mars stands at the north-eastern corner of the magnificent Forum of Augustus, which extended from here as far as the present Via Alessandrina, surpassing in size the forum of Julius Cæsar, to which it was adjoining. It was of sufficient size to be frequently used for fights of animals (venationes). Among its ornaments were statues of Augustus triumphant and of the subdued provinces—with inscriptions illustrative of the great deeds he had accomplished there; also a picture by Apelles representing War with her hands bound behind her, seated upon a pile of arms. Part of the boundary wall exists, enclosing on two sides the remains of the temple of Mars Ultor, and is constructed of huge masses of peperino. The arch, in the wall close to the temple, is known as Arco dei Pantani. The sudden turn in the wall here is interesting as commemorating a concession made to the wish of some proprietors, who were unwilling to part with their houses for the sake of the forum.

"C'est l'histoire du moulin de Sans-Souci, qui du reste paraît n'être pas vraie.

"Il est piquant d'assister aujourd'hui à ce ménagement d'Auguste pour l'opinion qu'il voulait gagner. Envoyant le mur s'infléchir parce-qu'il a fallu épargner quelques maisons, on croit voir la toute-puissance d'Auguste gauchir à dessein devant les intérêts particuliers, seule puissance avec laquelle il reste à compter quand tout intérêt général a disparu. L'obliquité de la politique d'Auguste est visible dans l'obliquité de ce mur, qui montre et rend pour ainsi dire palpable le manège adroit de la tyrannie, se déguisant pour se fonder. Le mur biaise, comme biaisa constamment l'empereur."—Ampère, Emp. i. 233.

(The street on the left—passing the Arco dei Pantani—the Via della Salita del Grillo, commemorates the approach to the castle of the great mediæval family Del Grillo; the street on the right leads through the ancient Suburra.)

At the corner of the next street (Via della Croce Bianca)—on the left of the Via Alessandrina—is the ruin called the "Colonnace," being part of the Portico of Pallas Minerva, which decorated the Forum Transitorium, begun by Domitian, but dedicated in the short reign of Nerva, and hence generally called the Forum of Nerva, on account of the execration with which the memory of Domitian was regarded. Up to the seventeenth century seven magnificent columns of the temple of Minerva were still standing, but they were destroyed by Paul V., who used part of them in building the Fontana Paolina. The existing remains consist of two half-buried Corinthian columns with a figure of Minerva, and a frieze of bas-reliefs.

"Les bas-reliefs du forum de Nerva représentent des femmes occupées des travaux d'aiguille, auxquels présidait Minerve. Quand on se rappelle, que Domitien avait placé à Albano, près du temple de cette déesse, un collège de prêtres qui imitaient la parure et les mœurs de femmes, on est tenté de croire qu'il y a dans le choix des subjets figurés ici une allusion aux habitudes efféminées de ces prétres."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 161.

"The portico of the temple of Minerva is most rich and beautiful in architecture, but woefully gnawed by time, and shattered by violence, besides being buried midway in the accumulation of the soil, that rises over dead Rome like a flood-tide. Within this edifice of antique sanctity a baker's shop is now established, with an entrance on one side; for everywhere, the remnants of old grandeur and divinity have been made available for the meanest neccessities of to-day."—Hawthorne.

It was in this forum that Nerva caused Vetronius Turinus, who had trafficked with his court interest, to be suffocated with smoke, a herald proclaiming at the time, "Fumo punitur qui vendidit fumum."

Returning a short distance down the Via Alessandrina, and turning (left) down the Via Bonella, we traverse the site of the Forum of Julius Cæsar, upon which 4000 sestertia (800,000 l.) were expended, and which is described by Dion-Cassius as having been more beautiful than the Forum Romanum. It was ornamented with a Temple of Venus Genetrix—from whom Julius Cæsar claimed to be descended—which contained a statue of the goddess by Archesilaus, a statue of Cæsar himself, and a group of Ajax and Medea by Timomacus. Here, also, Cæsar had the effrontery to place the statue of his mistress, Cleopatra, by the side of that of the goddess. In front of the temple stood a bronze figure of a horse—supposed to be the famous Bucephalus—the work of Lysippus.

"Cedat equus Latiæ qui, contra templa Diones,

Cæsarei stat sede Fori. Quem tradere es ausus

Pellæo Lysippa Duci, mox Cæsaris ora

Aurata cervice tulit."

Statius, Silv. i. 84.

The only visible remains of this forum are some courses of huge square blocks of stone (Lapis Gabinus), in a dirty court.

Part of the site of the forum of Julius Cæsar is now occupied—on the right near the end of the Via Bonella—by the Accademia di San Luca, founded in 1595, Federigo Zuccaro being its first director. The collections are open from 9 to 5 daily. A ceiling representing Bacchus and Ariadne, is by Guido. The best pictures are:—

Bacchus and Ariadne: Poussin.

Vanity: Paul Veronese.

Calista and the Nymphs: Titian.

The murder of Lucretia: Guido Cagnacci.

Fortune: Guido.

Innocent XI.: Velasquez.

The Saviour and the Pharisee: Titian.

A lovely fresco of a child: Raphael.

St. Luke painting the Virgin: Attributed to Raphael.

"St. Luke painting the Virgin has been a frequent and favourite subject. The most famous of all is a picture in the Academy of St. Luke, ascribed to Raphael. Here St. Luke, kneeling on a footstool before an easel, is busied painting the Virgin with the Child in her arms, who appears to him out of heaven, sustained by clouds; behind St. Luke stands Raphael himself, looking on."—Mrs. Jameson.

A skull preserved here was long supposed to be that of Raphael, but his true skull has since been found in his grave in the Pantheon.

"On a longtemps vénéré ici un crâne que l'on croyait être celui de Raphael; crâne étroit sur lequel les phrénologistes auront prononcé de vains oracles, devant lequel on aura bien profondément rêvé et qui n'était que celui d'un obscur chanoine bien innocent de toutes ces imaginations."—A. Du Pays.

Just beyond St. Luca, we enter the Forum Romanum.

The interest of Rome comes to its climax in the Forum. In spite of all that is destroyed, and all that is buried, so much still remains to be seen, and every stone has its story. Even without entering into all the vexed archæological questions which have filled the volumes of Canina, Bunsen, Niebuhr, and many others, the occupation which a traveller interested in history will find here is all but inexhaustible; and, after the disputes of centuries, the different sites seem now to be verified with tolerable certainty. The study of the Roman Forum is complicated by the succession of public edifices by which it has been occupied, each period of Roman history having a different set of buildings, and each in a great measure supplanting that which went before. Another difficulty has naturally arisen from the exceedingly circumscribed space in which all these buildings have to be arranged, and which shows that many of the ancient temples must have been mere chapels, and the so-called "lakes" little more than fountains.

"This spot, where the senate had its assemblies, where the rostra were placed, where the destinies of the world were discussed, is the most celebrated and the most classical of ancient Rome. It was adorned with the most magnificent monuments, which were so crowded upon one another, that their heaped-up ruins are not sufficient for all the names which are handed down to us by history. The course of centuries has overthrown the Forum, and made it impossible to define; the level of the ancient soil is twenty-four feet below that of to-day, and however great a desire one may feel to reproduce the past, it must be acknowledged that this very difference of level is a terrible obstacle to the powers of imagination; again, the uncertainties of archæologists are discouraging to curiosity and the desire of illusion. For more than three centuries learning has been at work upon this field of ruins, without being able even to agree upon its bearings; some describing it as extending from north to south, others from east to west. The origin of the Forum goes back to the alliance of the Romans and Sabines. It was a space surrounded by marshes, which extended between the Palatine and the Capitol, occupied by the two colonies, and serving as a neutral ground where they could meet. The Curtian Lake was situated in the midst. Constantly adorned under the republic and the empire, it appears that it continued to exist until the eleventh century. Its total ruin dates from Robert Guiscard, who, when called to the assistance of Gregory VII., left it a heap of ruins. Abandoned for many centuries, it became a receptacle for rubbish, which gradually raised the level of the soil. About 1547, Paul III. began to make excavations in the Forum. Then the place became a cattle-market, and the glorious name of Forum Romanum changed into that of Campo Vaccino.

"The Forum was surrounded by a portico of two stories, the lower of which was occupied by shops (tabernæ). In the beginning of the sixth century of Rome, two fires destroyed part of the edifices with which it had been embellished. This was an opportunity for isolating the Forum, and basilicas and temples were raised in succession along its sides, which in their turn were partly destroyed in the fire of Nero. Domitian rebuilt a part, and added the temple of Vespasian, and Antoninus that of Faustina."—A. Du Pays.

The excavations which were made in the Forum before 1871 are for the most part due to the generosity of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. The papal government always displayed the most extraordinary apathy about extending them, and, when a large excavation was made in the winter of 1869—70, by the British Archæological Society, in front of the Church of Sta. Martina, insisted on its being immediately filled up again, instead of extending it, as might easily have been done, to join the excavation which had long existed on the Clivus Capitolinus. Lately the excavations have been considerably increased, but were the roads leading to the Forum to be closed, and a large body of efficient labourers set to work, the whole of the Roman Forum and its surroundings might be laid bare in a month, without any injury to the interesting churches in its neighbourhood. At present, even that part which is disinterred is cut up by a number of raised causeways, which distract the eye and mar the general effect, and the excavations, recommenced by the Italian government, are slowly and inadequately carried on.

If we stand on the causeway in front of the arch of Septimius Severus, and turn towards the Capitol, we look upon the Clivus Capitolinus, which is perfectly crowded with historical sites and fragments, viz.:—

1. The modern Capitol, resting on the Tabularium. This is one of the earliest architectural relics in Rome. It is built in the Etruscan style, of huge blocks of tufa or peperino placed long-and cross-ways alternately. It was formerly composed of two stages called Camellaria. Only the lower now remains. It contained the tables of the laws. The corridor which remains in the interior is used as a museum of architectural fragments. The Tabularium probably communicated with the Ærarium in the temple of Saturn.

2. On the right of the excavated space, and nearest the Tabularium, the site of the Tribune, in front of which were the Rostra, to which the head of Octavius was affixed by Marius, and the head and hand of Cicero by Antony, and where Fulvia, the widow of Clodius, spat in his dead face, and pierced his inanimate tongue with the pin which she wore in her hair. In front of the rostrum were the statues of the three Sibyls called Tria Fata.

3. Below, a little(**typo? little?) more to the right, is the site of the Comitium, where the survivor of the Horatii was condemned to death, and saved by the voice of the people. Here, also, was the trophied pillar which bore the arms of the Curiatii. In the area of the Comitium grew the famous fig-tree which was always preserved here in commemoration of the tree under which Romulus and Remus were suckled by the wolf, and beneath which was a bronze representation of the wolf and the children.

4. A little more to the left, is the site of the Vulcanal, so called from an altar dedicated to Vulcan, a platform (still defined) where, in the earliest times, Romulus and Tatius used to meet on intermediate ground and transact affairs common to both; and where Brutus was seated, when, without any change of countenance, he saw his two sons beaten and beheaded. Adjoining the Vulcanal was the Græcostasis, where foreign ambassadors waited before they were admitted to an audience of the senate.

5. Below the Vulcanal, and just behind the Arch of Severus, is the site of the Temple of Concord, dedicated, with blasphemous inappropriateness, B.C. 121, by the consul Opimius, immediately after the murder of Caius Gracchus. Here Cicero pronounced his orations against Catiline before the senate. A pavement of coloured marbles remains. At its base are still to be seen some small remains of the Colonna Mænia, which was surmounted by the statue of C. Mænius, who decorated the rostra with the iron beaks of vessels taken in war.

6. The three beautiful columns which are still standing were attributed to a temple of Jupiter Tonans, but are now decided to belong to the Temple of Vespasian. The engravings of Piranesi represent them as buried almost to their capitals, and they remained in this state until they were disinterred during the first French occupation. The space was so limited in this part of Rome, that in order to prevent encroaching upon the street Clivus Capitolinus, which descends the hill between this temple and that of Saturn, the temple of Vespasian was raised on a kind of terrace, and the staircase which led to it was thrust in between the columns. This temple was restored by Septimius Severus, and to this the letters on the entablature refer, being part of the word Restituere. Instruments of sacrifice are sculptured on the frieze.

7. On the left of the excavated space, close beneath the Tabularium, a low range of columns recently re-erected represents the building called the School of Xanthus, chambers, for the use of the scribes and persons in the service of the curule ædiles, which derived their name from Xanthus, a freedman, by whom they were rebuilt.

8. The eight Ionic columns still standing, part of the Temple of Saturn, the ancient god of the Capitol. Before this temple Pompey sate surrounded by soldiers, listening to the orations which Cicero was delivering from the rostrum, when he received the personal address, "Te enim jam appello, et ea voce ut me exaudire possis." Here the tribune Metellus flung himself before the door and vainly attempted to defend the treasure of the Ærarium in this temple against Julius Cæsar. The present remains are those of an indifferent and late renovation of an earlier temple, being composed of columns which differ in diameter, and a frieze put together from fragments which do not belong to one another. The original temple was built by Tarquin, and was supposed to mark the site of the ancient Sabine altar of the god and the limit of the wood of refuge mentioned by Virgil.

9. Just below the Temple of Saturn is the site of the Arch of Tiberius, erected, according to Tacitus, upon the recovery by Germanicus of the standards which Varus had lost.

10. The remains of the Milliarium Aureum, which formed the upper extremity of a wall faced with marbles, ending near the arch of Severus in a small conical pyramid. Distances without the walls were inscribed upon the Milliarium Aureum, as distances within the walls were upon the pyramid (from which in this case they were also measured) which bore the name of Umbilicus Romæ. The Via Sacra, which is still visible, descended from the Capitol between the temples of Saturn and Vespasian,—being known here as the Clivus Capitolinus, and passed to the left of—

11. The Arch of Septimius Severus, which was erected by the senate A.D. 205, in honour of that emperor and his two sons, Caracalla and Geta. It is adorned with bas-reliefs relating his victories in the east,—his entry into Babylon and the tower of the temple of Belus are represented. A curious memorial of imperial history may be observed in the inscription, where we may still discern the erasure made by Caracalla after he had put his brother Geta to death in A.D. 213, for the sake of obliterating his memory. The added words are OPTIMIS FORTISSIMISQVE PRINCIPIBUS—but the ancient inscription P. SEPT. LVC. FIL. GETÆ. NOBILISS. CÆSARI, has been made out by painstaking decipherers. In one of the piers is a staircase leading to the top of the arch which was formerly (as seen from coins of Severus and Caracalla) adorned by a car drawn by six horses abreast, and containing figures of Severus and his sons. It was in front of this arch that the statue of Marcus Aurelius stood, which is now at the Capitol.

"Les proportions de l'arc de Septime-Sévère sont encore belles. L'aspect en est imposant; il est solide sans être lourd. La grande inscription où se lisent les épithètes victorieuses qui rappellent les succès militaires de l'empereur, Parthique, Dacique, Adiabénique, se déploie sur une vaste surface et donne à l'entablement un air de majesté qu'admirent les artistes. Cette inscription est doublement historique; elle rappelle les campagnes de Sévère et la tragédie domestique qui après lui ensanglanta sa famille, le meurtre d'un de ses fils immolé par l'autre, et l'acharnement de celui-ci à poursuivre la mémoire du frère qu'il avait fait assassiner. Le nom de Géta a été visiblement effacé par Caracalla. La même chose se remarque dans une inscription sur bronze qu'on voit au Capitale et sur le petit arc du Marché aux bœufs dont j'ai parlé, où l'image de Géta a été effacée comme son nom. Caracalla ne permit pas même à ce nom proscrit de se cacher parmi les hiéroglyphes. En Egypte, ceux qui composaient le nom de Géta ont été grattés sur les monuments."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 278.

(The excavations in thé Forum are open to the public on the same days as the Palace of the Cæsars—Thursdays and Sundays.)

The platform on which we have been standing leads to the Via della Consolazione, occupying the site of the ancient Vicus Jugarius, where Augustus erected an altar to Ceres, and another to Ops Augusta, the goddess of wealth. (In this street, on the left, is a good cinque-cento doorway.) Where this street leaves the Forum was the so-called Lacus Servilius, a basin which probably derived its name from Servilius Ahala (who slew the philanthropist Sp. Mælius with a dagger near this very spot), and which was encircled with a ghastly row of heads in the massacres under Sylla. This fountain was adorned by M. Aggrippa with a figure of a hydra. The right side of the Forum is now occupied for a considerable distance by the disinterred remains of the Basilica Julia, begun by Julius Cæsar, and finished by Augustus, who dedicated it in honour of his daughter. A basilica of this description was intended partly as a Law Court and partly as an Exchange. In this basilica the judges called Centumviri held their courts, which were four in number:

"Jam clamor, centumque viri, densumque coronæ

Vulgus: et infanti Julia tecta placent."

Martial, vi. Ep. 38.

Beyond the basilica are three beautiful columns which belong to a restoration of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, dedicated by Postumius, B.C. 484. Here costly sacrifices were always offered in the ides of July, at the anniversary of the battle of the Lake Regillus, after which the Roman knights, richly clothed, crowned with olive, and bearing their trophies, rode past it in military procession, starting from the temple of Mars outside the Porta Capena. The entablature which the three columns support is of great richness, and the whole fragment is considered to be one of the finest existing specimens of the Corinthian order. None of the Roman ruins have given rise to more discussion than this. It has perpetually changed its name. Bunsen and many other authorities considered it to belong to the temple of Minerva Chalcidica; but as it is known that the position of the now discovered Basilica Julia was exactly between the temple of Saturn and that of Castor, and a passage of Ovid describes the latter as being close to the site of the temple of Vesta, which is also ascertained, it seems almost certain now that it belonged to the temple of the Dioscuri. Dion-Cassius mentions that Caligula made this temple a vestibule to his house on the Palatine.

Here, on the right, branches off the Via dei Fienili, once the Vicus Tuscus, or Etruscan quarter (see Chap. V.), leading to the Circus Maximus. At its entrance was the bronze statue of Vertumnus, the god of Etruria, and patron of the quarter. The long trough-shaped fountain here, at which such picturesque groups of oxen and buffaloes are constantly standing, is a memorial of the Lake of Juturna the sister of Turnus, or as she was sometimes described, the wife of Janus the Sabine war-god. This fountain, for such it must have been, was dried up by Paul V.

"At quæ venturas præcedit sexta kalendas,

Hac sunt Ledæis templa dicata deis.

Fratribus illa deis fratres de gente deorum

Circa Juturnæ composuere lacus."

Ovid, Fast. i. 705.

Here, close under the Palatine, is the site of the famous Temple of Vesta, in which the sacred fire was preserved, with the palladium saved from Troy. On the altar of this temple, blood was sprinkled annually from the tail of the horse which was sacrificed to Mars in the Campus-Martius. The foundation of the temple was attributed to Numa, but the worship must have existed in Pelasgic times, as the mother of Romulus was a vestal. It was burnt down in the fire of Nero, rebuilt and again burnt down under Commodus, and probably restored for the last time by Heliogabalus. Here, during the consulate of the young Marius, the high priest Scævola was murdered, splashing the image of Vesta with his blood,—and here (A.D. 68) Piso, the adopted son of Galba, was murdered in the sanctuary whither he had fled for refuge, and his head, being cut off, was affixed to the rostra. Behind the temple, along the lower ridge of the Palatine, stretched the sacred grove of Vesta, and the site of the Church of Sta. Maria Liberatrice was occupied by the Atrium Vestæ, a kind of convent for the vestal virgins. Here Numa Pompilius fixed his residence, hoping to conciliate both the Latins of the Palatine and the Sabines of the Capitoline by occupying a neutral ground between them.

"Quæris iter? dicam, vicinum Castora, canæ

Transibis Vestæ, virgineamque domum,

Inde sacro veneranda petes palatia Clivo."

Martial, i. Ep. 70.

"Hic focus est Vestæ, qui Pallada servat et ignem.

Hic fuit antiqui regia parva Numæ."

Ovid, Trist. iii. El. 1.

"Hic locus exiguus, qui sustinet atria Vestæ,

Tunc erat intonsi regia magna Numæ.

Forma tamen templi, quae nunc manet, ante fuisse

Dicitur; et formæ causa probanda subest.

Vesta eadem est, et Terra; subest vigil ignis utrique,

Significant sedem terra focusque suam.

Terra pilæ similis, nullo fulcimine nixa,

Aëre subjecto tam grave pendet onus.

Arte Syracosia suspensus in aëre clauso

Stat globus, immensi parva figura poli;

Et quantum a summis, tantum secessit ab imis

Terra. Quod ut fiat, forma rotunda facit.

Par facies templi: nullus procurrit ab illo

Angulus. A pluvio vindicat imbre tholus."

Ovid, Fast. vi. 263.

"Servat et Alba, Lares, et quorum lucet in aris

Ignis adhuc Phrygius, nullique adspecta virorum

Pallas, in abstruso pignus memorabile templo."

Lucan, ix. 992.

Close to the temple of Vesta was the Regia, where Julius Cæsar lived (as pontifex maximus)—where Pompeia his second wife admitted her lover Clodius in the disguise of a woman to the mysteries of the Bona Dea—whence Cæsar went forth to his death—and from which his last wife Calpurnia rushed forth with loud outcries to receive his dead body.

Somewhere in this part of the Forum was the famous Curtian Lake, so called from Mettus Curtius, a Sabine warrior, who with difficulty escaped from its quagmires to the Capitol after a battle between Romulus and Tatius.[52] Tradition declares that the quagmire afterwards became a gulf, which an oracle declared would never close until that which was most important to the Roman people was sacrificed to it. Then the young Marcus Curtius, equipped in full armour, leapt his horse into the abyss, exclaiming that nothing was more important to the Roman people than arms and courage; and the gulf was closed.[53] Two altars were afterwards erected on the site to the two heroes, and a vine and an olive tree grew there.[54]

"Hoc, ubi nunc fora sunt, udæ tenuere paludes:

Amne redundatis fossa madebat aquis.

Curtius ille lacus, siccas qui sustinet aras,

Nunc solida est tellus, sed lacus ante fuit."

Ovid, Fast. vi. 401.

Some fountain, like those of Servilius and Juturna, bearing the name of Lacus Curtius must have existed on this site to imperial times, for the Emperor Galba was murdered there.

"A single cohort still surrounded Galba, when the standard-bearer tore the Emperor's image from his spear-head, and dashed it on the ground. The soldiers were at once decided for Otho; swords were drawn, and every symptom of favour for Galba amongst the bystanders was repressed by menaces, till they dispersed and fled in horror from the Forum. At last, the bearers of the emperor's litter overturned it at the Curtian pool beneath the Capitol. In a few moments enemies swarmed around his body. A few words he muttered, which have been diversely reported: some said that they were abject and unbecoming; others affirmed that he presented his neck to the assassin's sword, and bade him strike 'if it were for the good of the republic;' but none listened, none perhaps heeded the words actually spoken; Galba's throat was pierced, but even the author of his mortal wound was not ascertained, while his breast being protected by the cuirass, his legs and arms were hacked with repeated gashes."—Merivale, vii. 73.

At the foot of the Clivus Capitolinus, on the left (looking towards the Arch of Titus) stood the Temple of Janus Quirinus, between the great Forum and the Forum of Julius Cæsar, and near the ascent to the Porta Janualis, by which Tarpeia admitted the Sabines to the Capitol. Procopius, in the sixth century, saw the little bronze temple of Janus still standing. This was one of many temples of the great Sabine god.

"Quum tot sint Jani; cur stas sacratus in uno,

Hic ubi juncta foris templa duobus habes?"

Ovid, Fast. i. 257.

This was the temple which was the famous index of peace and war, closed by Augustus for the third time from its foundation after the victory of Actium.[55]

" ...et vacuum duellis

Janum Quirini clausit, et ordinem

Rectum, et vaganti fræna licentiæ

Injecit."

Horace, Ode iv. 15.

Besides this temple there were three arches, whose sites are unknown, dedicated to Janus in different parts of the Forum.

" ...Hæc Janus summus ab imo

Perdocet——"

Horace, Ep. i. 1, 54.

The central arch was the resort of brokers and money-lenders.[56]

" ...Postquam omnis res mea Janum

Ad medium fracta est."

Hor. Sat. ii. 3, 18.

Along this side of the Forum stood the Tabernæ Argentariæ, the silversmiths' shops, and beyond them—probably in front of S. Adriano—were the Tabernæ Novæ, where Virginia was stabbed by her father with a butcher's knife, which he had seized from one of the stalls, saying, "This, my child, is the only way to keep thee free," as he plunged it into her heart.[57] Near this also was the statue of Venus Cloacina.[58]

The front of the Church of S. Adriano is a fragment of the Basilica of Æmilius Paulus, built with part of 1500 talents which Cæsar had sent from Gaul to win him over to his party. This basilica occupied the site of the famous Curia of Tullus Hostilius.

"Là se réunit, pour la première fois sous un toit, le conseil des anciens rois que le savant Properce, avec un sentiment vrai des antiquités romaines, nous montre tel qu'il était dans l'origine, se rassemblant au son de la trompe pastorale dans un pré, comme le peuple dans certains petits cantons de la Suisse."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. ii. 310.

The Curia was capable of containing six hundred senators, their number in the time of the Gracchi. It had no tribune,—each speaker rose in turn and spoke in his place. Here was "the hall of assembly in which the fate of the world was decided." The Curia was destroyed by fire, which it caught from the funeral pyre of Clodius. Around the Curia stood many statues of Romans who had rendered especial service to the state. The Curia Julia occupied the site of the Curia Hostilia in the early part of the reign of Augustus. Close by the old Curia was the Basilica Porcia, built by Cato the Censor, which was likewise burnt down at the funeral of Clodius. Near this, the base of the rostral column, Colonna Duilia, has been found.

Opposite the Basilica Julia, in the depth of the Forum, is the Column of Phocas, raised to that emperor by the exarch Smaragdus in 608. This is—

"The nameless column with a buried base,"

of Byron, but is now neither nameless nor buried, its pedestal having been laid bare by the Duchess of Devonshire in 1813, and bearing an inscription which shows an origin that no one ever anticipated.

"In the age of Phocas (602—610), the art of erecting a column like that of Trajan or M. Aurelius had been lost. A large and handsome Corinthian pillar, taken from some temple or basilica, was therefore placed in the Forum, on a huge pyramidal basis quite out of proportion to it, and was surmounted with a statue of Phocas in gilt bronze. It has so little the appearance of a monumental column, that for a long while it was thought to belong to some ruined building, till, in 1813, the inscription was discovered. The name of Phocas had, indeed, been erased; but that it must have been dedicated to him is shown by the date.... The base of this column, discovered by the excavations of 1816 to have rested on the ancient pavement of the Forum, proves that this former centre of Roman life was still, at the beginning of the seventh century, unencumbered with ruins."—Dyer's History of the City of Rome.

"Ce monument et l'inscription qui l'accompagne sont précieux pour l'histoire, car ils montrent le dernier terme de l'avilissement où Rome devait tomber. Smaragdus est le premier magistrat de Rome,—mais ce magistrat est un préfet, l'élu du pouvoir impérial et non de ses concitoyens;—il commande, non, il est vrai, à la capitale du monde, mais au chef-lieu du duché de Rome. Ce préfet, qui n'est connu de l'histoire que par ses lâches ménagements envers les Barbares, imagine de voler une colonne à un beau temple, au temple d'un empereur de quelque mérite, pour la dédier à un exécrable tyran monté sur le trône par des assassinats, au meurtrier de l'empereur Maurice, à l'ignoble Phocas, que tout le monde connaît, grâce à Corneille, qui l'a encore trop ménagé. Et le plat drôle ose appeler très-clément celui qui fit égorger sous les yeux de Maurice ses quatre fils avant de l'égorger lui-même. Il décerne le titre de triomphateur à Phocas, qui laissa conquérir par Chosroès une bonne part de l'empire. Il ose écrire: 'pour les innombrables bienfaits de sa piété, pour le repos procuré à l'Italie et à la liberté.' Ainsi l'histoire monumentale de la Rome de l'empire finit honteusement par un hommage ridicule de la bassesse à la violence."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 389.

A little behind the Column of Phocas are the marble slabs commemorating the sacrifices called Suovetaurilia, consisting of a pig, a sheep, and an ox, animals which are sculptured here in bold relief. On the side towards the Capitol a number of figures are represented, amongst them a woman presenting a child to the emperor, in reference to Trajan's asylum for orphans, or for those who were too poor to bring up their children. On the other side is a burning of deeds in reference to the famous remission of debts by Trajan.

Beyond this, on the left, the base of the famous statue of Domitian has been discovered as described by Statius:

"Ipse loci custos, cujus sacrata vorago,

Famosusque lacus nomen memorabile servat."

Silv. i. 66.

Here the Via Sacra turns, almost continuing the Vicus Tuscus. On its right, on a line with the Temple of the Dioscuri, has been discovered the base of the small Temple of Julius Cæsar (Ædes Divi Julii),[59] which was surrounded with a colonnade of closely-placed columns and surmounted by a statue of the deified triumvir. This was the first temple in Rome which was dedicated to a mortal.

"Fratribus assimilis, quos proxima templa tenentes

Divus ab excelsa Julius æde videt."

Ovid, Pont. El. ii. 2.

Dion Cassius narrates that this temple was erected on the spot where the body of Julius was burnt. It was adorned by Augustus with the beaks of the vessels taken in the battle of Actium, and hence obtained the name of Rostra Julia. He also placed here the statue of Venus Anadyomene of Apelles, because Cæsar had claimed descent from that goddess. Here, in A.D. 14, the body of Augustus, being brought from Nola, where he died, was placed upon a bier, while Tiberius pronounced a funeral oration over it, before it was carried to the Campus Martius.

The road turns again in front of the remains of the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, erected by the flattery of the senate to the memory of the licentious Empress Faustina, the faithless wife of Antoninus Pius, whom they elevated to the rank of a goddess. Her husband, dying before its completion, was associated in her honours, and the inscription, which still remains on the portico, is "DIVO ANTONINO ET DIVÆ FAUSTINÆ. EX. S. C." The front of the temple is adorned with eight columns of cipolino, forty-three feet high, supporting a frieze ornamented with griffins and candelabra. The effect of these remains would be magnificent if the modern road were removed, and the temple were laid bare in its full height, with the twenty-one steps which formerly led to it. It is also greatly injured by the hideous Church of S. Lorenzo in Miranda, which encloses the cella of the temple, and whose name, says Ampère, naively expresses the admiration in which its builders held these remains.[60]

On the left we now reach the Church of SS. Cosmo and Damian, considered by Nibby and others to occupy the site of a temple of Remus. Ampère has since proved that this temple never existed, and that the remains are those of a Temple of the Penates, rebuilt by Augustus. Here Valerius Publicola had a house, to which he removed from the Velia, in deference to the wishes of the Roman people.

"Le sentiment d'effroi que la demeure féodale des Valérius causait, était pareille à celui qu'inspiraient aux Romains du moyen âge les tours des barons, que le peuple, dès qu'il était le maître, se hâtait de démolir. Valerius n'attendit pas qu'on se portât à cette extrémité, et il vint habiter au pied de la Velia. C'est le premier triomphe des plébéiens sur l'aristocratie romaine et la première concession de cette aristocratie."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. ii. 274.

A little further on are three gigantic arches, being all that remains of the magnificent Basilica of Constantine, which was 320 feet in length and 235 feet in width. The existing ruins are those of one of the aisles of the basilica. There are traces of an entrance towards the Coliseum. The roof was supported by eight Corinthian columns, of which one, remaining here till the time of Paul V., was removed by him to the piazza of Sta. Maria Maggiore, where it still stands. This site was previously occupied by the Temple of Peace, burnt down in the time of Commodus. This temple was the great museum of Rome under the empire, and contained the seven-branched candlestick and other treasures brought from Jerusalem,[61] as well as all the works of art which had been collected in the palace of Nero and which were removed hither by Vespasian. A statue of the Nile, with children playing around it, is mentioned by Pliny as among the sights in the temple of Peace.[62]

It was near this that the Via Sacra was crossed by the Arch of Fabius, erected B.C. 121, in honour of the conqueror of the Allobroges,—the then inhabitants of Savoy. Close to this portion of the Via Sacra also stood a statue of Valeria, daughter of Publicola, by whom the honours of the virgin Clœlia were disputed.

Besides those which we have noticed, there is mention in classical authors of many other buildings and statues which were once crowded into this narrow space; but all trace of many even of those enumerated is still buried many feet below the soil.

The modern name of Campo Vaccino, by which the Forum is now known, is supposed by some antiquaries to be derived from Vitruvius Vacco, who once had a house there.

"La guerre aux habitants de Privernum (Piperno) rattache à une localité du Palatin.... Les habitants de Fondi avaient fait cause commune avec les habitants de Privernum. Leur chef, Vitruvius Vacca, possedait une maison sur le Palatin; c'était un homme considérable dans son pays et même à Rome. Ils demandèrent et obtinrent grâce. Privernum fut pris, et Vitruvius Vacca, qui s'y était réfugié, conduit à Rome, enfermé dans le prison Mamertine pour y être gardé jusqu'au retour du consul, et alors battu de verges et mis à mort; sa maison du Palatin fut rasée, et le lieu où elle avait été garda le nom de Prés de Vacca."—Ampère, Histoire Romaine, iii. 17.

But the name will seem singularly appropriate to those who are familiar with the groups of meek-faced oxen of the Campagna, which are always to be seen lying in the shade under the trees of the Forum, or drinking at its water-troughs.

"'Romanoque Foro et lautis mugire Carinis.'

"Ce vers m'a toujours profondément frappé, lorsque je traversais le Forum, aujourd'hui Campo-Vaccino (le champ du bétail); je voyais en effet presque toujours à son extrémité des bœufs couchés au pied du Palatin. Virgile, se reportant de la Rome de son temps à la Rome ancienne d'Evandre, ne trouvait pas d'image plus frappante du changement produit par les siècles, que la présence d'un troupeau de bœufs dans le lieu destiné à être le Forum. Eh bien, le jour devait venir où ce qui était pour Virgile un passé lointain et presque incroyable se reproduirait dans la suite des âges; le Forum devait être de nouveau un lieu agreste, ses magnificences s'en aller et les bœufs y revenir.

"J'aimais à les contempler à travers quelques colonnes moins vieilles que les souvenirs qu'ils me retracaient, reprenant possession de ce sol d'où les avait chassés la liberté, la gloire, Cicéron, César, et où devait les ramener la plus grande vicissitude de l'historie, la destruction de l'empire romain per les barbares. Ce que Virgile trouvait si étrange dans le passé n'étonne plus dans le présent; les bœufs mugissent au Forum; ils s'y couchent et y ruminent aujourd'hui, de même qu'au temps d'Evandre et comme s'il n'était rien arrivé."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. 1. 211.

"In many a heap the ground

Heaves, is if Ruin in a frantic mood

Had done his utmost. Here and there appears,

As left to show his handy-work not ours,

An idle column, a half-buried arch,

A wall of some great temple. It was once,

And long, the centre of their Universe,

The Forum—whence a mandate, eagle-winged,

Went to the ends of the earth. Let us descend

Slowly. At every step much may be lost,

The very dust we tread stirs as with life,

And not a breath but from the ground sends up

Something of human grandeur.

. . . . .

Now all is changed; and here, as in the wild,

The day is silent, dreary as the night;

None stirring, save the herdsman and his herd,

Savage alike; or they that would explore,

Discuss, and learnedly; or they that come,

(And there are many who have crossed the earth,)

That they may give the hours to meditation,

And wander, often saving to themselves,

'This was the Roman Forum!'"

Rogers' Italy.

"We descended into the Forum, the light fast fading away and throwing a kindred soberness over the scene of ruin. The soil has risen from rubbish at least fifteen feet, so that no wonder that the hills look lower than they used to do, having been never very considerable at the first. There it was one scene of desolation, from the massy foundation-stones of the Capitoline Temple, which were laid by Tarquinius the Proud, to a single pillar erected in honour of Phocas, the eastern emperor, in the fifth century. What the fragments of pillars belonged to, perhaps we can never know; but that I think matters little. I care not whether it was a temple of Jupiter Stator or the Basilica Julia, but one knows that one is on the ground of the Forum, under the Capitol, the place where the tribes assembled, and the orators spoke; the scene, in short, of all the internal struggles of the Roman people."—Arnold's Journal.

"They passed the solitary column of Phocas, and looked down into the excavated space, where a confusion of pillars, arches, pavements, and shattered blocks and shafts—the crumbs of various ruins dropt from the devouring maw of Time—stand, or lie, at the base of the Capitoline Hill. That renowned hillock (for it is little more) now rose abruptly above them. The ponderous masonry, with which the hillside is built up, is as old as Rome itself, and looks likely to endure while the world retains any substance or permanence. It once sustained the Capitol, and now bears up the great pile which the mediæval builders raised on the antique foundation, and that still loftier tower, which looks abroad upon a larger page of deeper historic interest than any other scene can show. On the same pedestal of Roman masonry, other structures will doubtless arise, and vanish like ephemeral things.

"To a spectator on the spot, it is remarkable that the events of Roman history, and of Roman life itself, appear not so distant as the Gothic ages which succeeded them. We stand in the Forum, or on the height of the Capitol, and seem to see the Roman epoch close at hand. We forget that a chasm extends between it and ourselves, in which lie all those dark, rude, unlettered centuries, around the birthtime of Christianity, as well as the age of chivalry and romance, the feudal system, and the infancy of a better civilization than that of Rome. Or, if we remember these mediæval times, they look further off than the Augustan age. The reason may be, that the old Roman literature survives, and creates for us an intimacy with the classic ages, which we have no means of forming with the subsequent ones.

"The Italian climate, moreover, robs age of its reverence, and makes it look nearer than it is. Not the Coliseum, nor the tombs of the Appian Way, nor the oldest pillar in the Forum, nor any other Roman ruin, be it as dilapidated as it may, ever give the impression of venerable antiquity which we gather, along with the ivy, from the grey walls of an English abbey or castle. And yet every brick and stone, which we pick up among the former, had fallen, ages before the foundation of the latter was begun."—Hawthorne, Transformation.

"A Rome, vous marchez sur les pierres qui ont été les dieux de César et de Pompée: vous considérez la ruine de ces grands ouvrages, dont la vieillesse est encore belle, et vous vous promènerez tous les jours parmi les histoires et les fables.... Il n'y à que Rome où la vie soit agréable, où le corps trouve ses plaisirs et l'esprit les siens, où l'on est à la source des belles choses. Rome est cause que vous n'êtes plus barbares, elle vous a appris la civilité et la religion.... Il est certain que je ne monte jamais au Palatin ni au Capitole que je n'y change d'esprit, et qu'il ne me vienne d'autres pensées que les miennes ordinaires. Cet air m'inspire quelque chose de grand et de généreux que je n'avais point auparavant: si je rêve deux heures au bord du Tibre, je suis aussi savant que si j'avais étudié huit jours."—Balzac.

Before leaving the Forum we must turn from its classical to its mediæval remains, and examine the very interesting group of churches which have sprung up amid its ruins.

Almost opposite the Mamertine Prisons, surmounted by a handsome dome, is the Church of Sta. Martina, which contains the original model, bequeathed by the sculptor Thorwaldsen, of his Copenhagen statue of Christ in the act of benediction. The opposite transept contains a very inferior statue of Religion by Canova. The figure of Sta. Martina by Guerini reposes beneath the high altar. The subterranean church is well worth visiting. An ante-chapel adorned with statues of four virgin martyrs leads to a chapel erected at the cost and from the designs of Pietro da Cortona, whose tomb stands near its entrance, with a fine bust by Bernini. In the centre of the inner chapel lamps are burning round the magnificent bronze altar which covers the shrine of Sta. Martina, and beneath it, you can discover the martyr's tomb by the light of a torch which a monk lets down through a hole. In the tribune is an ancient throne. A side chapel contains the grave in which the body of the virgin saint, with three other martyrs, her companions, was found in 1634: it is adorned with a fine bas-relief by Algardi.

"At the foot of the Capitoline hill, on the left hand as we descend from the Ara Cœli into the Forum, there stood in very ancient times a small chapel dedicated to Sta. Martina, a Roman virgin, who was martyred in the persecution under Alexander Severus. The veneration paid to her was of very early date, and the Roman people were accustomed to assemble there on the first day of the year. This observance was, however, confined to the people, and not very general till 1634; an era which connects her in rather an interesting manner with the history of art. In this year, as they were about to repair her chapel, they discovered, walled into the foundations, a sarcophagus of terra-cotta, in which was the body of a young female, whose severed head reposed in a separate casket. These remains were very naturally supposed to be those of the saint who had been so long venerated on that spot. The discovery was hailed with the utmost exultation, not by the people only, but by those who led the minds and consciences of the people. The pope himself, Urban VIII., composed hymns in her praise; and Cardinal Francesco Barberini undertook to rebuild her church. Amongst those who shared the general enthusiasm was the painter, Pietro da Cortona, who was at Rome at the time, who very earnestly dedicated himself and his powers to the glorification of Sta. Martina. Her church had already been given to the Academy of Painters, and consecrated to St. Luke, their patron saint. It is now 'San Luca and Santa Martina.' Pietro da Cortona erected at his own cost, the chapel of Sta. Martina, and when he died, endowed it with his whole fortune. He painted for the altarpiece his best picture, in which the saint is represented as triumphing over the idols, while the temple in which she has been led to sacrifice, is struck by lightning from heaven, and falls in ruins around her. In a votive picture of Sta. Martina kneeling at the feet of the Virgin and Child, she is represented as very young and lovely; near her, a horrid instrument of torture, a two-pronged fork with barbed extremities, and the lictor's axe, signifying the manner of her death."—Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art.

The feast of the saint is observed here on Jan. 30, with much solemnity. Then in all the Roman churches is sung the Hymn of Sta. Martina—

"Martinæ celebri plaudite nomini,

Cives Romulei, plaudite gloriæ;

Insignem mentis dicite virginem,

Christi dicite martyrem.

Hæc dum conspicuis orta parentibus

Inter delicias, inter amabiles

Luxus illecebras, ditibus affluit

Faustæ muneribus domus.

Vitæ despiciens commoda, dedicat

Se rerum Domino, et munifica manu

Christi pauperibus distribuens opes

Quærit præmia cœlitum.

A nobis abigas lubrica gaudia

Tu, qui martyribus dexter ades,

Deus

Une et trine: tuis da famulis jubar,

Quo clemens animos beas. Amen."

There is nothing especial to notice in S. Adriano, which is built in the ruins of the basilica of Emilius Paulus, or in S. Lorenzo in Miranda, which occupies the temple of Antoninus and Faustina, but Sta. Maria Liberatrice, built on the site of the house of Numa and the convent of the Vestals, commemorates by its name a curious legend of the fourth century. On this site, it is said, dwelt in a cave, a terrible dragon who had slain three hundred persons with the poison of his breath. Into this cave, instructed thereto by St. Peter, and entrusting himself to the care of the Virgin, descended St. Silvester the Pope, attended by two acolytes bearing torches, and here, having pronounced the name of Christ, he was miraculously enabled to bind the dragon, and to shut him up till the day of Judgment. But when he ascended in safety, he found at the mouth of the cave two magicians who had followed him in the hope of discovering some imposture, dying from the poison of the dragon's breath,—and these also he saved alive.

We now reach the circular building which has been so long known as the temple of Remus. To the right of the entrance are two pillars of cipolino, almost buried in the soil. The porphyry pillars at the entrance, supporting a richly sculptured cornice, were probably set up in their present position when the temple was turned into a church. The bronze doors were brought from Perugia. If, as is now supposed, the temple on this site was that of the Penates, the protectors against all kinds of illness and misfortune, the modern dedication to the protecting physicians Cosmo and Damian may have had some reference to that which went before.

The Church of SS. Cosmo and Damiano was founded within the ancient temple by Pope Felix IV. in 527, and restored by Adrian I. in 780. In 1633 the whole building was modernized by Urban VIII., who, in order to raise it to the present level of the soil, cut the ancient church in half by the vaulting which now divides the upper and lower churches. To visit the lower church a monk must be summoned, who will bring a torch. This is well worth while. It is of great size, and contains a curious well into which Christian martyrs in the time of Nero are said to have been precipitated. The tomb of the martyrs Cosmo and Damian is beneath the altar, which is formed of beautiful transparent marble. Under a side altar is the grave of Felix IV. The third and lowest church (the original crypt) which is very small, is said to have been a place of refuge during the early Christian persecutions. Here is shown the altar at which Felix IV. celebrated mass while his converts were hiding here—the grave in which the body of the pope was afterwards discovered—and a miraculous spring, still flowing, which is said to have burst forth in answer to his prayers that he might have wherewithal to baptize his disciples. A passage which formerly led from hence to the Catacombs of St. Sebastian, was walled up, twenty years ago, by the paternal government, because twenty persons were lost in it. In this crypt were found the famous "Pianta Capitolina," now preserved in the Capitol. In the upper church, on the right of the entrance from the circular vestibule into the body of the building is this inscription—

"L'imagine di Madonna Santissima che esiste all'altar magg. parlò a S. Gregorio Papa dicendogli, 'Perchè piu non mi saluti mentre passando eri solito salutarmi?' Il santo domandò perdona e concesse a quelli che celebrano in quell'altare la liberazione dell'anima dal purgatorio, cioé per quell'anima per la quale si celebra la messa."[63]

Another inscription narrates—

"Gregorius primus concessit omnibus et singulis visitantibus ecclesiam istam sanctorum Cosmæ et Damiani mille annos de indulgentia, et in die stationis ejusdem ecclesiæ idem Gregorius concessit decem millia annorum de indulgentia."

Among the many relics preserved in this church are, "Una ampulla lactis Beatæ Mariæ Virginis"; "De Domo Sanctæ Mariæ Magdalenæ"; "De Domo Sancti Zachariæ profeta!"

Deserving of the most minute attention is the grand mosaic of Christ—coming on the clouds of sunset.

"The mosaics of SS. Cosmo and Damian (A.D. 526—530) are the finest of ancient Christian Rome. Above the arch appear, on each side of the Lamb, four angels, of excellent but somewhat severe style; then follow various apocalyptic emblems: a modern walling up having left but few traces of the four and twenty elders. A gold surface, dimmed by age, with little purple clouds, forms the background: though in Rome, at least, at both an earlier and later date, a blue ground prevailed. In the apsis itself, upon a dark blue ground, with golden-edged clouds, is seen the colossal figure of Christ; the right hand raised, either in benediction or teaching, the left holding a written scroll; above is the hand, which is the emblem of the First Person of the Trinity. Below, on each side, the apostles Peter and Paul are leading SS. Cosmo and Damiano, each with crowns on their heads, towards the Saviour, followed by St. Theodore on the right, and by Pope Felix IV., the founder of the church, on the left. This latter, unfortunately, is an entirely restored figure. Two palm-trees, sparkling with gold, above one of which appears the emblem of eternity, the phœnix—with a star-shaped nimbus, close the composition on each side. Further below, indicated by water-plants, sparkling also with gold, is the river Jordan. The figure of Christ may be regarded as one of the most marvellous specimens of the art of the middle ages. Countenance, attitude, and drapery combine to give him an expression of quiet majesty, which, for many centuries after, is not found again in equal beauty and freedom. The drapery, especially, is disposed in noble folds, and only in its somewhat too ornate details is a further departure from the antique observable. The saints are not as yet arranged in stiff parallel forms, but are advancing forward, so that their figures appear somewhat distorted, while we already remark something constrained and inanimate in their step. The apostles Peter and Paul wear the usual ideal costume. SS. Cosmo and Damiano are attired in the late Roman dress: violet mantles, in gold stuff, with red embroideries of oriental barbaric effect. Otherwise the chief motives of the drapery are of great beauty, though somewhat too abundant in folds. The high lights are brought out by gold and other sparkling materials, producing a gorgeous play of colour which relieves the figures vigorously from the dark blue background. Altogether, a feeling for colour is here displayed, of which no later mosaics with gold grounds give any idea. The heads, with the exception of the principal figure, are animated and individual, though without any particular depth of expression; somewhat elderly, also, in physiognomy, but still far removed from any Byzantine stiffness; St. Peter has already the bald head, and St. Paul the short brown hair and dark beard, by which they were afterwards recognizable. Under this chief composition, on a gold ground, is seen the Lamb upon a hill, with the four rivers of Paradise, and the twelve sheep on either hand. The great care of execution is seen in the five or six gradations of tints which the artist has adopted."—Kugler.

SS. Cosmo and Damian, to whom this church is dedicated, were two Arabian physicians who exercised their art from charity. They suffered under Diocletian. "First they were thrown into the sea, but an angel saved them; and then into the fire, but the fire refused to burn them; then they were bound to crosses and stoned, but the stones either fell harmless or rebounded on their executioners and killed them, so then the pro-consul Lycias, believing them to be sorcerers, commanded that they should be beheaded, and thus they died." SS. Cosmo and Damian were the patron saints of the Medici, and their gilt statues were carried in state at the coronation of Leo X. (Giovanni de' Medici). Their fame is general in many parts of France, where their fête is celebrated by a village fair—children who ask for their fairing of a toy or gingerbread calling it their "St. Côme."

"It is related that a certain man, who was afflicted with a cancer in his leg, went to perform his devotions in the Church SS. Cosmo and Damian at Rome, and he prayed most earnestly that these beneficent saints would be pleased to aid him. When he had prayed, a deep sleep fell upon him. Then he beheld St. Cosmo and St. Damian, who stood beside him; and one carried a box of ointments, and the other a sharp knife. And one said, 'What shall we do to replace this diseased leg when we have cut it off?' And the other replied, 'There is a Moor who has been buried just now at St. Pietro in Vincoli; let us take his leg for the purpose.' So they brought the leg of the dead man, and with it they replaced the leg of the sick man; anointing it with celestial ointment, so that he remained whole. When he awoke he almost doubted whether it could be himself; but his neighbours, seeing that he was healed, looked into the tomb of the Moor, and found that there had been an exchange of legs: and thus the truth of this great miracle was proved to all beholders."—Mrs. Jameson, from the Legenda Aurea.

Just beyond the basilica of Constantine, stands the Church of Sta. Francesca Romana, which is full of interest. It was first built by St. Sylvester on the site of the temple of Venus and dedicated to the Virgin, under the title of Sta. Maria Antica. It was rebuilt in A.D. 872 by John VIII., who resided in the adjoining monastery during his pontificate. An ancient picture attributed to St. Luke, brought from Troy in 1100, was the only object in this church which was preserved when the building was totally destroyed by fire in 1216, after which the church, then called Sta. Maria Nuova, was restored by Honorius III. During the restoration, the picture was kept at S. Adriano, and its being brought back led to a contest amongst the people, which was ended by a child exclaiming—"What are you doing? the Madonna is already in her own church." She had betaken herself thither none knew how.

In the twelfth century the church was given to the Lateran Canons, in the fourteenth to the Olivetan monks; under Eugenius IV., the latter extended their boundaries so far that they included the Coliseum, but their walls were forced down in the succeeding pontificate. Gregory XI., Paul II., and Cæsar Borgia, were cardinals of Sta. Maria Novella. In 1440 the name was changed to that of Sta. Francesca Romana, when that saint, Francesca de' Ponziani, foundress of the Order of Oblates, was buried here. Her tomb was erected in 1640 by Donna Agata Pamfili, sister of Innocent X., herself an Oblate. It is from the designs of Bernini, and is rich in marbles. The figure was not added till 1868.

"After the death of Francesca, her body remained during a night and a day at the Ponziani Palace, the Oblates watching by turns over the beloved remains.... Francesca's face, which had recently borne traces of age and suffering, became as beautiful again as in the days of youth and prosperity; and the astonished bystanders gazed with wonder and awe at her unearthly loveliness. Many of them carried away particles from her clothes, and employed them for the cure of several persons who had been considered beyond the possibility of recovery. In the course of the day the crowd augmented to a degree which alarmed the inhabitants of the palace, Battista Ponziani took measures to have the body removed at once to the church, and a procession of the regular and secular clergy escorted the venerated remains to Santa Maria Nuova, where they were to be interred.

"The popular feeling burst forth on the occasion; it was no longer to be restrained. Francesca was invoked by the crowd, and her beloved name was heard in every street, in every piazza, in every corner of the Eternal City. It flew from mouth to mouth, it seemed to float in the air, to be borne aloft by the grateful enthusiasm of a whole people, who had seen her walk to that church by her mother's side in her holy childhood; who had seen her kneel at that altar in the grave beauty of womanhood, in the hour of bereavement, and now in death, carried thither in state, she the gentle, the humble saint of Rome, the poor woman of the Trastevere, as she was sometimes called at her own desire."—Lady G. Fullerton's Life of Sta. Francesca Romana.

A chapel on the right of the church contains the monument of Cardinal Vulcani, 1322, supporting his figure, with Faith, Hope, and Charity sculptured in high relief below. Near the door is that of Cardinal Adimari, 1432, who died here after an ineffectual mission to the anti-pope Pedro da' Luna. In the left transept was a fine Perugino (removed 1867); in the right transept is the tomb of Pope Gregory XI., by Pietro Paolo Olivieri, erected by the senate in gratitude for his having restored the papal court to Rome from Avignon. A bas-relief represents his triumphal entry, with St. Catherine of Siena, by whose entreaties he was induced to return, walking before his mule. A breach in the walls indicates the ruinous state into which Rome had fallen, the chair of St. Peter is represented as floating back through the air, while an angel carries the papal tiara and keys; a metaphorical figure of Rome is coming forth to welcome the pope.

"The greatest part of the praise due to Gregory's return to Rome belongs to St. Catherine of Siena, who, with infinite courage, travelled to Avignon, and persuaded the pope to return, and by his presence to dispel the evils which disgraced Italy, in consequence of the absence of the popes. Thus it is not to be wondered at, that those writers, who rightly understand the matter, should have said that Catherine, the virgin of Siena, brought back to God the abandoned apostolical chair upon her shoulders."—Ughelli, Ital. Sacra, vi. col. 45.

Near Pope Gregory's tomb some blackened marks in the wall are shown as holes made by the (gigantic) knees of St. Peter, when he knelt to pray that Simon Magus might be dropped by the demons he had invoked to support him in the air, which he is said to have done to show his power on this spot.

"When the error of Simon was spreading farther and farther, the illustrious pair of men, Peter and Paul, the rulers of the Church, arrested it by going thither, who suddenly exhibited as dead, Simon, the putative God, on his appearance. For when Simon declared that he would ascend aloft into heaven, the servants of God cast him headlong to the earth, and though this occurrence was wonderful in itself, it was not wonderful under the circumstances, for it was Peter who did it, he who bears with him the keys of heaven, ... it was Paul who did it, he who was caught up into the third heaven."—St. Cyril of Jerusalem.

"Simon promised to fly, and thus ascend to the heavenly abodes. On the day agreed upon, he went to the Capitoline hill, and throwing himself from the rock, began his ascent. Then Peter, standing in the midst, said, 'O Lord Jesus, show him that his arts are in vain.' Hardly had the words been uttered, when the wings which Simon had made use of became entangled, and he fell. His thigh was fractured, never to be healed,—and some time afterwards, the unhappy man died at Aretia, whither he had retired after his discomfiture."—St. Ambrose.[64]

"There can be no doubt that there existed in the first century a Simon, a Samaritan, a pretender to divine authority and supernatural powers; who, for a time, had many followers; who stood in a certain relation to Christianity; and who may have held some opinions more or less similar to those entertained by the most famous heretics of the early ages, the Gnostics. Irenæus calls this Simon the father of all heretics. 'All those,' he says, 'who in any way corrupt the truth, or mar the preaching of the Church, are disciples and successors of Simon, the Samaritan magician.' Simon gave himself forth as a God, and carried about with him a beautiful woman named Helena, whom he represented as the first conception of his—that is, of the divine—mind, the symbol and manifestation of that portion of spirituality which had become entangled in matter."—Jameson's Sacred Art, p. 204.

The vault of the tribune is covered with mosaics.

"The restored tribune mosaics (A.D. 858—887, during the pontificate of Nicholas I.), close the list of Roman Byzantine works. By their time it had become apparent that such figures as the art of the day was alone able to achieve, could have no possible relation to each other, and therefore no longer constitute a composition; the artists accordingly separated the Madonna on the throne, and the four saints with uplifted hands, by graceful arcades. The ground is gold, the nimbuses blue. The faces consist only of feeble lines—the cheeks are only red blotches; the folds merely dark strokes; nevertheless a certain flow and fulness in the forms, and the character of a few accessories (for instance, the exchange of a crown upon the Virgin's head for the invariable Byzantine veil), seem to indicate that we have not so much to do here with the decline of Byzantine art, as with a northern and probably Frankish influence."—Kugler.

The convent attached to this church was the abode of Tasso during his first visit to Rome.

Behind Sta. Francesca Romana, and facing the Coliseum, are the remains generally known as the Temple of Venus and Rome, also called Templum Urbis (now sometimes called by objectors the "Portico of Livia"), which, if this name is the correct one, was originally planned by the Emperor Hadrian to rival the Forum of Trajan, erected by the architect Apollodorus. It was built upon a site previously occupied by the atrium of Nero's Golden House. Little remains standing except a cella facing the Coliseum, and another in the cloisters of the adjoining convent (these, perhaps, being restorations by Maxentius, c. 307, after a fire had destroyed most of the building of Hadrian), but the surrounding grassy height is positively littered with fragments of the grey granite columns which once formed the grand portico (400 by 200 feet) of the building. A large mass of Corinthian cornice remains near the cella facing the Coliseum. This was the last pagan temple which remained in use in Rome.[65] It was only closed by Theodosius in 391, and remained entire till 625, when Pope Honorius carried off the bronze tiles of its roof to St. Peter's.

"Ac sacram resonare viam mugitibus, ante

Delubrum Romæ; colitur nam sanguine et ipsa

More deæ, nomenque loci, ceu numen, habetur.

Atque Urbis, Venerisque pari se culmine tollunt

Templa, simul geminis adolentur thura deabus."

Prudentius contr. Symm. v. 214.

"When about to construct his magnificent temple of Venus and Rome, Hadrian produced a design of his own and showed it with proud satisfaction to the architect Apollodorus. The creator of the Trajan column remarked with a sneer that the deities, if they rose from their seats, must thrust their heads through the ceiling. The emperor, we are assured, could not forgive this banter; but we can hardly take to the letter the statement that he put his critic to death for it."—Merivale, ch. lxvi.

In front of this temple stood the bronze statue of Clœlia, mentioned by Livy and Seneca, and (till the sixth century) the bronze elephants mentioned by Cassiodorus. Nearer the Coliseum may still be seen the remains of the foundation prepared by Hadrian for the Colossal Statue of Nero, executed in bronze by Zenodorus. This statue was twice moved, first by Vespasian, in A.D. 75, that it might face the chief entrance of his amphitheatre,[66] whose plan had been already laid out. At the same time—though it was a striking likeness of Nero—its head was surrounded with rays that it might represent Apollo. In its second position it is described by Martial:

"Hic ubi sidereus propius videt astra colossus

Et crescunt media pegmata celsa via,

Invidiosa feri radiabant atria regis,

Unaque jam tota stabat in urbe domus."

De Spect. ii.

It was again moved (with the aid of forty-two elephants), a few yards further north, by Hadrian, when he built his temple of Venus and Rome. Pliny describes the colossus as 110, Dion Cassius as 100 feet high.

"Hadrian employed an architect named Decrianus to remove the colossus of Nero, the face of which had been altered into a Sol. He does not seem to have accomplished the design of Apollodorus to erect a companion statue of Luna."—Merivale, ch. lxvi.

Near the Church of Sta. Francesca the Via Sacra passes under the Arch of Titus, which, even in its restored condition, is the most beautiful monument of the kind remaining in Rome. Its Christian interest is unrivalled, from its having been erected by the senate to commemorate the taking of Jerusalem, and from its bas-reliefs of the seven-branched candlestick and other treasures of the Jewish Temple. In mediæval times it was called the Arch of the Seven Candlesticks (septem lucernarum) from the bas-relief of the candlestick, concerning which Gregorovius remarks, that the fantastic figures carved upon it prove that it was not an exact likeness of that which came from Jerusalem. The bas-reliefs are now greatly mutilated, but they are shown in their perfect state in a drawing of Giuliano di Sangallo. On the frieze is the sacred river Jordan, as an aged man, borne on a bier. The arch, which was in a very ruinous condition, had been engrafted in the middle ages into a fortress tower called Turris Cartularia, and so it remained till the present century. This tower originally formed the entrance to the vast fortress of the powerful Frangipani family, which included the Coliseum and a great part of the Palatine and Cœlian hills; and here, above the gate, Pope Urban II. dwelt in 1093, under the protection of Giovanni Frangipani. The arch was repaired by Pius VII., who replaced in travertine the lost marble portions at the top and sides.

"Standing beneath the arch of Titus, and amid so much ancient dust, it is difficult to forbear the commonplaces of enthusiasm, on which hundreds of tourists have already insisted. Over the half-worn pavement, and beneath this arch, the Roman armies had trodden in their outward march, to fight battles, a world's width away. Returning victorious, with royal captives, and inestimable spoil, a Roman triumph, that most gorgeous pageant of earthly pride, has streamed and flaunted in hundred-fold succession over these same flagstones, and through this yet stalwart archway. It is politic, however, to make few allusions to such a past; nor is it wise to suggest how Cicero's feet may have stepped on yonder stone, or how Horace was wont to stroll near by, making his footsteps chime with the measure of the ode that was ringing in his mind. The very ghosts of that massive and stately epoch have so much density that the people of to-day seem the thinner of the two, and stand more ghost-like by the arches and columns, letting the rich sculpture be discerned through their ill-compacted substance."—Hawthorne, Transformation.

"We passed on to the arch of Titus. Amongst the reliefs there is the figure of a man bearing the golden candlestick from the Temple at Jerusalem, as one of the spoils of the triumph. Yet He who abandoned His visible and local temple to the hands of the heathen for the sins of His nominal worshippers, has taken to Him His great power, and has gotten Him glory by destroying the idols of Rome as He had done the idols of Babylon; and the golden candlestick burns and shall burn with an everlasting light, while the enemies of His holy name, Babylon, Rome, or the carcass of sin in every land, which the eagles of His wrath will surely find out, perish for ever from before Him."—Arnold's Journal.

"The Jewish trophies are sculptured in bas-relief on the inside of the arch beneath the vaulting. Opposite to these is another bas-relief representing Titus in the quadriga, the reins borne by the goddess Roma. In the centre of the arch, Titus is borne to heaven by an eagle. It may be conjectured that these ornaments to his glory were designed after the death of Vespasian, and completed after his own.... These witnesses to the truth of history are scanned at this day by Christians passing to and fro between the Coliseum and the Forum; and at this day the Jew refuses to walk beneath them, and creeps stealthily by the side, with downcast eyes, or countenance averted."—Merivale, Romans under the Empire, vii. 250.

"The restoration of the arch of Titus reflects the greatest credit on the commission appointed by Pius VII. for the restoration of ancient edifices. This, not only beautiful, but precious monument, had been made the nucleus of a hideous castellated fort by the Frangipani family. Its masonry, however, embraced and held together, as well as crushed, the marble arch; so that on freeing it from its rude buttresses there was fear of its collapsing, and it had first to be well bound together by props and bracing beams, a process in which the Roman architects are unrivalled. The simple expedient was then adopted by the architect Stern of completing the arch in stone; for its sides had been removed. Thus increased in solid structure, which continued all the architectural lines, and renewed its proportions to the mutilated centre, the arch was both completely secured and almost restored to its pristine elegance."—Wiseman's Life of Pius VII.

The processions of the popes going to the Lateran for their solemn installation, used to halt beside the arch of Titus while a Jew presented a copy of the Pentateuch, with a humble oath of fealty. This humiliating ceremony was omitted for the first time at the installation of Pius IX.

At this point it may not be inappropriate to notice two other buildings, which, though situated on the Palatine, are totally disconnected with the other objects occupying that hill.

A lane runs up to the right from the arch of Titus. On the left is a gateway, surmounted by a faded fresco of St. Sebastian. Here is the entrance to a wild and beautiful garden, possessing most lovely views of the various ruins, occupying the site of the gardens of Adonis. This is the place where St. Sebastian underwent his (so-called) martyrdom, and will call to mind the many fine pictures, scattered over Europe, of the youthful and beautiful saint, bound to a tree, and pierced with arrows. The finest of these are the Domenichino, in Sta. Maria degli Angeli, and the Sodoma at Florence. He is sometimes represented as bound to an orange tree, and sometimes, as in the Guido at Bologna, to a cypress, like those we still see on this spot. Here was an important Benedictine Convent, where Pope Boniface IV. was a monk before his election to the papacy, and where the famous abbots of Monte Casino had their Roman residence. Here, in 1118, fifty-one cardinals took refuge, and elected Gelasius II. as Pope. The only building remaining is the Church of Sta. Maria Pallara or S. Sebastiano, containing some curious inscriptions relating to events which have occurred here, and—in the tribune, frescoes, of the Saviour in benediction with four saints, and below, two other groups representing the Virgin with saints and angels, placed, as we learn by the inscription beneath, by one Benedict—probably an abbot.

Further up the lane a "Via Crucis" leads to the Church of S. Buonaventura, "the seraphic doctor" (Cardinal and Bishop of Albano, ob. July 14, 1274), who in childhood was raised from the point of death (1221) by the prayers of St. Francis, who was so surprised when he came to life, that he involuntarily exclaimed, "O buona ventura"—("what a happy chance")—whence the name by which he was afterwards known.[67]

The little church contains several good modern monuments. Beneath the altar is shown the body of the Blessed Leonardo of Porto-Maurizio (ob. 1751), who arranged the Via Crucis in the Coliseum, and who is much revered by the ultra-Romanists for having prophesied the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The crucifix and the picture of the Madonna which he carried with him in his missions, are preserved in niches on either side of the tribune, and many other relics of him are shown in his cell in the adjoining convent of Minor Franciscans. Entered through the convent is a lovely little garden, whence there is a grand view of the Coliseum, and where a little fountain is shaded by two tall palm trees.

"Oswald went next to the monastery of S. Buenaventura, built on the ruins of Nero's palace. There, where so many crimes had reigned remorselessly, poor friars, tormented by conscientious scruples, doom themselves to fasts and stripes for the least omission of duty. 'Our only hope,' said one, 'is that when we die, our faults will not have exceeded our penances.' Nevill, as he entered, stumbled over a trap, and asked its purpose. 'It is through that we are interred,' answered one of the youngest, already a prey to the bad air. The natives of the south fear death so much that it is wondrous to find there these perpetual mementoes; yet nature is often fascinated by what she dreads, and such an intoxication fills the soul exclusively. The antique sarcophagus of a child serves as the fountain of this institution. The boasted palm of Rome is the only tree of its garden."—Madame de Staël, Corinne.

The arch of Titus is spoken of as being "in summa Via Sacra," as the street was called which led from the southern gate of Rome to the Capitol, and by which the victorious generals passed in their triumphant processions to the temple of Jupiter. Between the arch of Titus and the Coliseum, the ancient pavement of this famous road, composed of huge polygonal blocks of lava, has been allowed to remain. Here we may imagine Horace taking his favourite walk.

"Ibam forte Via Sacrâ, sicut meus est mos,

Nescio quid meditans nugarum, et totus in illis."

Sat. i. 9.

It appears to have been the favourite resort of the flaneurs of the day:

"Videsne, Sacram metiente te viam

Cum bis ter ulnarum togâ,

Ut ora vertat huc et huc euntium

Liberrima indignatio?"

Horace, Epod. 4.

The Via Sacra was originally bordered with shops, some of which, together with some baths, have been unearthed on the right of the road. Ovid alludes frequently to the purchases which might be made there in his time. In this especial part of the Via was the market for fruit and honey.[68]

"Dum bene dives ager, dum rami pondere nutant;

Adferat in calatho rustica dona puer.

Rure suburbano poteris tibi dicere missa;

Illa vel in Sacra sint licet empta Via."

Ovid, Art. Aman. ii. 263.

At the foot of the hill are the remains of the bason and the brick cone of a fountain called Meta Sudans, where the gladiators used to wash. Seneca, who lived in this neighbourhood, complains (Epist. lvi.) of the noise which was made by a showman who blew his trumpet close to this fountain.

On the right the Via Triumphalis leads to the Via Appia, passing under the Arch of Constantine. The lower bas-reliefs upon this arch, which are crude and ill-designed, refer to the deeds of Constantine; but the upper, of fine workmanship, illustrate the life of Trajan, which has led some to imagine that the arch was originally erected in honour of Trajan, and afterwards appropriated by Constantine. They were, however, removed from an arch of Trajan (whose ruins existed in 1430[69]), and were appropriated by Constantine for his own arch.

"Constantin a enlevé à un arc de triomphe de Trajan les statues de prisonniers daces que l'on voit au sommet du sien. Ce vol a été puni au seizième siècle, car, dans ce qui semble un accès de folie, Lorenzino, le bizarre assassin d'Alexandre de Médicis a décapité toutes les statues qui surmontaient l'arche Constantin, moins une, la seule dont la tête soit antique. Heureusement on a dans les musées, à Rome et ailleurs, bon nombre de ces statues de captifs barbares avec le même costume, c'est-à-dire le pantalon et le bonnet, souvent les mains liées, dans une attitude de soumission morne, quelque fois avec une expression de sombre fierté, car l'art romain avait la noblesse de ne pas humilier les vaincus; il ne les représentait point à genoux, foulés aux pieds par leurs vainqueurs; on ne donnait pas à leurs traits étranges un aspect qu'on eût pu rendre hideux; on les plaçait sur le sommet des arcs de triomphe, debout, la tête baissée, l'air triste."

"'Summus tristis captivus in arcu.'"

Ampère, Emp. ii. 169.

The arch was further plundered by Clement VIII., who carried off one of its eight Corinthian columns to finish a chapel at the Lateran. They were formerly all of giallo-antico. But it is still the most striking and beautiful of the Roman arches.

"L'inscription gravée sur l'arc de Constantin est curieuse par le vague de l'expression en ce qui touche aux idées religieuses, par l'indécision calculée des termes dont se servait un sénat qui voulait éviter de se compromettre dans un sens comme dans l'autre. L'inscription porte que cet arc a été dédié a l'empereur parcequ'il a délivré la république d'un tyran (on dit encore la république!) par la grandeur de son âme et une inspiration de la Divinité, instinctu Divinitatis. Il parait même que ces mots ont été ajoutés après coup pour remplacer une formule peut-être plus explicitement païenne. Ce monument, qui célèbre le triomphe de Constantin, ne proclame donc pas encore nettement le triomphe du Christianisme. Comment s'en étonner, quand sur les monnaies de cet empereur on voit d'un côté le monogramme du Christ et l'autre l'effigie de Rome, qui était une divinité pour les païens?"—Ampère, Emp. ii. 355.

We now turn to the Coliseum, originally called The Flavian Amphitheatre. This vast building was begun in A.D. 72, upon the site of the reservoir of Nero, by the Emperor Vespasian, who built as far as the third row of arches, the last two rows being finished by Titus after his return from the conquest of Jerusalem. It is said that 12,000 captive Jews were employed in this work, as the Hebrews in building the Pyramids of Egypt, and that the external walls alone cost a sum equal to 17,000,000 francs. It consists of four stories, the first Doric, the second Ionic, the third and fourth Corinthian. Its circumference is 1641 feet, its length is 287, its width 182, its height 157. The entrance for the emperor was between two arches facing the Esquiline, where there is no cornice. Here there are remains of stucco decoration. On the opposite side was a similar entrance from the Palatine. Towards S. Gregorio has been discovered the subterranean passage in which the Emperor Commodus was near being assassinated. The numerous holes visible all over the exterior of the building were made in the middle ages, to extract the iron cramps, at that time of great value. The arena was surrounded by a wall sufficiently high to protect the spectators from the wild beasts, who were introduced by subterranean passages closed by huge gates, from the side towards the Cœlian. The podium contained the places of honour reserved for the Emperor and his family, the Senate, and the Vestal virgins. The places for the other spectators who entered by openings called vomitoria, were arranged in three stages (caveæ), separated by a gallery (præcinctio). The first stage for knights and tribunes, had 24 steps, the second (for the common people) 16, the third (for the soldiery) 10. The women, by order of the emperor, sate apart from the men, and married and unmarried men were also divided. The whole building was probably capable of containing 100,000 persons. At the top, on the exterior, may be seen the remains of the consoles which sustained the velarium which was drawn over the arena to shelter the spectators from the sun or rain. The arena could on occasions be filled with water for the sake of naval combats.

Nothing is known with certainty as to the architect of the Coliseum, though a tradition of the Church (founded on an inscription in the crypt of S. Martino al Monte), ascribes it to Gaudentius, a Christian martyr, who afterwards suffered on the spot.[70]

"The name of the architect to whom the great work of the Coliseum was entrusted has not come down to us. The ancients seem themselves to have regarded this name as a matter of little interest; nor, in fact, do they generally care to specify the authorship of their most illustrious buildings. The reason is obvious. The forms of ancient art in this department were almost wholly conventional, and the limits of design within which they were executed gave little room for the display of original taste and special character.... It is only in periods of eclecticism and renaissance, when the taste of the architect has wider scope, and may lead the eye instead of following it, that interest attaches to his personal merit. Thus it is that the Coliseum, the most conspicuous type of Roman civilisation, the monument which divides the admiration of strangers in modern Rome with St. Peter's itself, is nameless and parentless, while every stage in the construction of the great Christian temple, the creation of a modern revival, is appropriated with jealous care to its special claimants.

"The dedication of the Coliseum afforded to Titus an opportunity for a display of magnificence hitherto unrivalled, A battle of cranes with dwarfs representing the pigmies was a fanciful novelty, and might afford diversion for a moment; there were combats of gladiators, among whom women were included, though no noble matron was allowed to mingle in the fray; and the capacity of the vast edifice was tested by the slaughter of five thousand animals in its circuit. The show was crowned with the immission of water into the arena, and with a sea-fight representing the contests of the Corinthians and Corcyreans, related by Thucydides.... When all was over, Titus himself was seen to weep, perhaps from fatigue, possibly from vexation and disgust; but his tears were interpreted as a presentiment of his death, which was now impending, and it is probable that he was already suffering from a decline of bodily strength.... He lamented effeminately the premature decease he too surely anticipated, and, looking wistfully at the heavens, exclaimed that he did not deserve to die. He expired on the 13th September, 81, not having quite completed his fortieth year."—Merivale, ch. Ix.

"Hadrian gave a series of entertainments in honour of his birth-day, with the slaughter of a thousand beasts, including a hundred lions and as many lionesses. One magical scene was the representation of forests, when the whole arena became planted with living trees, shrubs, and flowers; to complete which illusion the ground was made to open, and send forth wild animals from yawning clefts, instantly re-covered with bushes.

"One may imagine the frantic excess to which the taste for gladiatorial combats was carried in Rome, from the preventive law of Augustus that gladiators should no more combat without permission of the senate; that prætors should not give these spectacles more than twice a year; that more than sixty couples should not engage at the same time; and that neither knights nor senators should ever contend in the arena. The gladiators were classified according to the national manner of fighting which they imitated. Thus were distinguished the Gothic, Dacian, Thracian, and Samnite combatants; the Retiarii, who entangled their opponents in nets thrown with the left hand, defending themselves with tridents in the right; the Secutores, whose special skill was in pursuit; the Laqueatores, who threw slings against their adversaries; the Dimachæ, armed with a short sword in each hand; the Hoplomachi, armed at all points; the Myrmillones, so called from the figure of a fish at the crest of the Gallic helmet they wore; the Bustuarii, who fought at funeral games; the Bestiarii, who only assailed animals; other classes who fought on horseback, called Andabates; and those combating in chariots drawn by two horses, Essedarii. Gladiators were originally slaves, or prisoners of war; but the armies who contended on the Roman arena in later epochs, were divided into compulsory and voluntary combatants, the former alone composed of slaves, or condemned criminals. The latter went through a laborious education in their art, supported at the public cost, and instructed by masters called Lanistæ, resident in colleges, called Ludi. To the eternal disgrace of the morals of Imperial Rome, it is recorded that women sometimes fought in the arena, without more modesty than hired gladiators. The exhibition of himself in this character by Commodus, was a degradation of the imperial dignity, perhaps more infamous, according to ancient Roman notions, than the theatrical performances of Nero."—Hemans' Story of Monuments in Rome.

The Emperor Commodus (A.D. 180-182), frequently fought in the Coliseum himself, and killed both gladiators and wild beasts, calling himself Hercules, dressed in a lion's-skin, with his hair sprinkled with gold-dust.

The gladiatorial combats came to an end, when, in A.D. 403, an oriental monk named Telemachus, was so horrified at them, that he rushed into the midst of the arena and besought the spectators to renounce them: instead of listening to him, they stoned him to death. The first martyrdom here was that of St Ignatius, said to have been the child especially blessed by our Saviour—the disciple of John—and the companion of Polycarp—who was sent here from Antioch, where he was bishop. When brought into the arena, he knelt down, and exclaimed, "Romans who are present, know that I have not been brought into this place for any crime, but in order that by this means I may merit the fruition of the glory of God, for love of whom I have been made prisoner. I am as the grain of the field, and must be ground by the teeth of the lions, that I may become bread fit for His table." The lions were then let loose, and devoured him, except the larger bones, which the Christians collected during the night.

"It is related of Ignatius that he grew up in such innocence of heart and purity of life, that to him it was granted to hear the angels sing; hence, when he became bishop of Antioch, he introduced into the service of his church the practice of singing the praises of God in responses, as he had heard the choirs of angels answering each other.... His story and fate are so well attested, and so sublimely affecting, that it has always been to me a cause of surprise as well as regret to find so few representations of him."—Jameson's Sacred Art, 693.

Soon after the death of Ignatius, 115 Christians were shot down here with arrows. Under Hadrian, A.D. 218, a patrician named Placidus, his wife Theophista, and his two sons, were first exposed here to the wild beasts, but when these refused to touch them were shut up in a brazen bull, and roasted by a fire lighted beneath. In 253, Abdon and Sennen, two rich citizens of Babylon, were exposed here to two lions and four bears, but on their refusing to attack them, were killed by the swords of the gladiators. In A.D. 259, Sempronius, Olympius, Theodulus, and Exuperia, were burnt at the entrance of the Coliseum, before the statue of the Sun. In A.D. 272, Sta. Prisca was vainly exposed here to a lion, then starved for three days, then stretched on a rack to have her flesh torn by iron hooks, then put into a furnace, and—having survived all these torments—was finally beheaded. In A.D. 277, Sta. Martina, another noble Roman lady, was exposed in vain to the beasts and afterwards beheaded in the Coliseum. St. Alexander under Antoninus; St. Potitus, 168; St. Eleutherius, bishop of Illyria, under Hadrian; St Maximus, son of a senator, 284; and Vitus, Crescentia, and Modesta, under Domitian, were also martyred here.[71]

"It is no fiction, but plain, sober, honest truth, to say: so suggestive and distinct is it at this hour: that, for a moment—actually in passing in—they who will, may have the whole great pile before them, as it used to be, with thousands of eager faces staring down into the arena, and such a whirl of strife, and blood, and dust going on there, as no language can describe. Its solitude, its awful beauty, and its utter desolation, strike upon the stranger, the next moment, like a softened sorrow; and never in his life, perhaps, will he be so moved and overcome by any sight, not immediately connected with his own affections and afflictions.

"To see it crumbling there, an inch a year; its walls and arches overgrown with green, its corridors open to the day; the long grass growing in its porches; young trees of yesterday springing up on its ragged parapets, and bearing fruit—chance produce of the seeds dropped there by the birds who build their nests within its chinks and crannies; to see its pit of fight filled up with earth, and the peaceful cross planted in the centre; to climb into its upper halls, and look down on ruin, ruin, ruin, all about it; the triumphal arches of Constantine, Septimius Severus, and Titus, the Roman Forum, the Palace of the Cæsars, the temples of the old religion, fallen down and gone; is to see the ghost of old Rome, wicked, wonderful old city, haunting the very ground on which its people trod. It is the most impressive, the most stately, the most solemn, grand, majestic, mournful sight conceivable. Never, in its bloodiest prime, can the sight of the gigantic Coliseum, full and running over with the lustiest life, have moved one heart, as it must move all who look upon it now, a ruin. God be thanked: a ruin!

"As it tops all other ruins: standing there, a mountain among graves: so do its ancient influences outlive all other remnants of the old mythology and old butchery of Rome, in the nature of the fierce and cruel Roman people. The Italian face changes as the visitor approaches the city; its beauty becomes devilish; and there is scarcely one countenance in a hundred, among the common people in the streets, that would not be at home and happy in a renovated Coliseum to-morrow."—Dickens.

The spot where the Christian martyrs suffered is now marked by a tall cross, devoutly kissed by the faithful,—and all round the arena of the Coliseum, are the small chapels or "stations," used in the Via Crucis, which is observed here at 4 P.M. every Friday, when a confraternity clothed in grey, with only the eyes visible, is followed by a crowd of worshippers who chaunt and pray at each station in turn,—after which a Capuchin monk preaches from a pulpit on the left of the arena. These sermons are often very striking, being delivered in a familiar style, and upon popular subjects of the day, but they also often border on the burlesque.

"Oswald voulut aller au Colisée pour entendre le Capucin qui devait y prêcher en plein air au pied de l'un des autels qui désignent, dans l'intérieur de l'enceinte, ce qu'on appelle la route de la Croix. Quel plus beau sujet pour l'éloquence que l'aspect de ce monument, que cette arène où les martyrs ont succédé aux gladiateurs! Mais il ne faut rien espérer à cet égard du pauvre Capucin, qui ne connâit de l'histoire des hommes que sa propre vie. Néanmoins, si l'on parvient à ne pas écouter son mauvais sermon, on se sent ému par les divers objets dont il est entouré. La plupart de ses auditeurs sont de la confrérie des Camaldules; ils se revêtent, pendant les exercises religieux, d'une espèce de robe grise qui couvre entièrement la tête et le corps, et ne laisse que deux petites ouvertures pour les yeux; c'est ainsi que les ombres pourraient être représentées. Ces hommes, ainsi cachés sous leurs vêtements, se prosternent la face contre terre, et se frappent la poitrine. Quand le prédicateur se jette à genoux en criant miséricorde de pitié! le peuple qui l'environne se jette aussi à genoux, et répète ce même cri, qui va se perdre sous les vieux portiques du Colisée. Il est impossible de ne pas éprouver alors une émotion profondément religieuse; cet appel de la douleur à la bonté, de la terre au ciel, remue l'âme jusque dans son sanctuaire le plus intime."—Madame de Staël.

"'C'est aujourd'hui Vendredi,' dit Guy, 'il y aura foule au Colisée, il vaudrait mieux, je crois, y aller un autre jour.'

"'Non, non,' dit Eveline, 'c'est précisément pour cela que je veux y aller. On m'a dit qu'il fallait le voir ainsi rempli de monde, et que d'ailleurs cette fête était curieuse.'

"'Ce n'est pas une fête,' dit Guy gravement, 'c'est un simple acte de dévotion qui se répète tous les Vendredis.'

"'En vérité,' dit Eveline, 'et pourquoi le Vendredi?'

"'Parceque c'est le jour où Christ est mort pour nous; par cette raison, vous ne l'ignorez pas, ce jour est demeuré consacré dans le monde chrétien ... dans le monde catholique du moins,' repondit Guy.

"'Mais à quel propos choisit-on le Colisée pour s'y réunir ce jour là?'

"'Parceque le Colisée a été baigné du sang des martyrs et que leur souvenir se mêle là plus qu'ailleurs à celui de la croix pour laquelle ils l'ont versé.'"—Mrs. Augustus Craven in Anne Severin.

The pulpit of the Coliseum was used for the stormy sermons of Gavazzi, who called the people to arms from thence in the revolution of March, 1848.

It is well worth while to ascend to the upper galleries (a man who lives near the entrance from the Forum will open a locked door for the purpose), as then only is it possible to realize the vast size and grandeur of the building.

"May, 1827.—Lastly, we ascended to the top of the Coliseum, Bunsen leaving us at the door, to go home; and I seated myself just above the main entrance, towards the Forum, and there took my farewell look over Rome. It was a delicious evening, and everything was looking to advantage:—the huge Coliseum just under me, the tufts of ilex and aliternus and other shrubs that fringe the walls everywhere in the lower part, while the outside wall, with its top of gigantic stones, lifts itself high above, and seems like a mountain barrier of bare rock, enclosing a green and varied valley. I sat and gazed upon the scene with an intense and mingled feeling. The world could show nothing grander; it was one which for years I had longed to see, and I was now looking at it for the last time. When I last see the dome of St. Peter's I shall seem to be parting from more than a mere town full of curiosities, where the eye has been amused, and the intellect gratified. I never thought to have felt thus tenderly towards Rome; but the inexplicable solemnity and beauty of her ruined condition has quite bewitched me, and to the latest hour of my life I shall remember the Forum, the surrounding hills, and the magnificent Coliseum."—Arnold's Letters.

The upper arches frame a series of views of the Aventine, the Capitoline, the Cœlian, and the Campagna, like a succession of beautiful pictures.

Those who visit the Coliseum by moonlight will realize the truthfulness of the following descriptions:—

"I do remember me, that in my youth,

When I was wandering,—upon such a night,

I stood within the Coliseum's wall,

Midst the chief relics of almighty Rome;

The trees which grew along the broken arches

Waved dark in the blue midnight, and the stars

Shone through the rents of ruin; from afar

The watch-dog bayed beyond the Tiber; and

More near from out the Cæsar's palace came

The owl's long cry, and, interruptedly,

Of distant sentinels the fitful song

Began and died upon the gentle wind:—

Some cypresses beyond the time-worn breach

Appeared to skirt the horizon, yet they stood

Within a bowshot where the Cæsars dwelt,

And dwell the tuneless birds of night, amidst

A grove which springs through levell'd battlements,

And twines its roots with the imperial hearths;

Ivy usurps the laurel's place of growth;—

But the gladiator's bloody circus stands,

A noble wreck in ruinous perfection!

While Cæsar's chambers, and the Augustan halls,

Grovel on earth in indistinct decay.

And thou didst shine, thou rolling moon, upon

All this, and cast a wide and tender light,

Which softened down the hoar austerity

Of rugged desolation, and fill'd up,

As 't were anew, the gaps of centuries;

Leaving that beautiful which still was so,

And making that which was not, till the place

Became religion, and the heart ran o'er

With silent worship of the great of old:—

The dead but scepter'd sovereigns, who still rule

Our spirits from their urns."

Manfred.

"Arches on arches! as it were that Rome,

Collecting the chief trophies of her line,

Would build up all her triumphs in one dome,

Her Coliseum stands; the moonbeams shine

As 't were its natural torches, for divine

Should be the light which streams here, to illume

The long-explored but still exhaustless mine

Of contemplation; and the azure gloom

Of an Italian night, where the deep skies assume

"Hues which have words, and speak to ye of heaven,

Floats o'er this vast and wondrous monument,

And shadows forth its glory. There is given

Under the things of earth, which Time hath bent,

A spirit's feeling, and where he hath leant

His hand, but broke his scythe, there is a power

And magic in the ruined battlement,

For which the palace of the present hour

Must yield its pomp, and wait till ages are its dower."

Childe Harold.

"No one can form any idea of full moonlight in Rome who has not seen it. Every individual object is swallowed in the huge masses of light and shadow, and only the marked and principal outlines remain visible. Three days ago (Feb. 2, 1787) we made good use of a light and most beautiful night. The Coliseum presents a vision of beauty. It is closed at night; a hermit lives inside in a little church, and beggars roost amid the ruined vaults. They had lighted a fire on the bare ground, and a gentle breeze drove the smoke across the arena. The lower portion of the ruin was lost, while the enormous walls above stood forth into the darkness. We stood at the gates and gazed upon this phenomenon. The moon shone high and bright. Gradually the smoke moved through the chinks and apertures in the walls, and the moon illuminated it like a mist. It was an exquisite moment!"—Goethe.

It is believed that the building of the Coliseum remained entire until the eighth century, and that its ruin dates from the invasion of Robert Guiscard, who destroyed it to prevent its being used as a stronghold by the Romans. During the middle ages it served as a fortress, and became the castle of the great family of Frangipani, who here gave refuge to Pope Innocent II. (Papareschi) and his family, against the anti-pope Anacletus II., and afterwards in the same way protected Innocent III. (Conti) and his brothers against the anti-pope Paschal II. Constantly at war with the Frangipani were the Annibaldi, who possessed a neighbouring fortress, and obtained from Gregory IX. a grant of half the Coliseum, which was rescinded by Innocent IV. During the absence of the popes at Avignon the Annibaldi got possession of the whole of the Coliseum, but it was taken away again in 1312, and placed in the hands of the municipality, after which it was used for bull-fights, in which (as described by Monaldeschi) nobles of high rank took part and lost their lives. In 1381 the senate made over part of the ruins to the Canons of the Lateran, to be used as a hospital, and their occupation is still commemorated by the arms of the Chapter (our Saviour's head between two candelabra) sculptured in various parts of the building. From the fourteenth century it began to be looked upon as a stone-quarry, and the Palazzos Farnese, Barberini, S. Marco, and the Cancellaria, were built with materials plundered from its walls. It is said that the first of these destroyers, Cardinal Farnese, only extorted permission from his reluctant uncle, Paul III., to quarry as much stone as he could remove in twelve hours, and that he availed himself of this permission to let loose four thousand workmen upon the building. Sixtus V. endeavoured to utilize it by turning the arcades into shops, and establishing a woollen manufactory, and Clement XI. (1700—1721) by a manufactory of saltpetre, but both happily failed. In the last century the tide of restoration began to set in. A Carmelite monk, Angelo Paoli, represented the iniquity of allowing a spot consecrated by such holy memories to be desecrated, and Clement XI. consecrated the arena to the memory of the martyrs who had suffered there, and erected in one of the archways the still existing chapel of Sta. Maria della Pietà. The hermit appointed to take care of this chapel was stabbed in 1742, which caused Benedict XIV. to shut in the Coliseum with bars and gates. After this time destruction became sacrilege, and the five last popes all contributed to strengthen and preserve the walls which remain. Even so late as thirty years ago, however, the interior was (like that of an English abbey) an uneven grassy space littered with masses of ruin, amid which large trees grew and flourished, and the clearing out of the arena, though exhibiting more perfectly the ancient form of the building, is much to be regretted by lovers of the picturesque.[72]

Among the ecclesiastical legends connected with the Coliseum, it is said that Gregory the Great presented some foreign ambassadors with a handful of earth from the arena as a relic for their sovereigns, and upon their receiving the gift with disrespect, he pressed it, when blood flowed from the soil. Pius V, urged those who wished for relics to gather up the dust of the Coliseum, wet with the blood of the martyrs.

In 1744 "the blessed Leonardo di Porto Maurizio," who is buried in S. Buonaventura, drew immense crowds to the Coliseum by his preaching, and obtained permission from Benedict XIV. to found the confraternity of "Amanti di Gesù e Maria," for whom the Via Crucis was established here. Recently the ruins have been associated with the holy beggar, Benoit Joseph Labré (beatified by Pius IX. in 1860), who died at Rome in 1783, after a life spent in devotion. He was accustomed to beg in the Coliseum, to sleep at night under its arcades, and to pray for hours at its various shrines.

The name Coliseum is first found in the writings of the Venerable Bede, who quotes a prophecy of Anglo-Saxon pilgrims.

"While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand;

When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall;

And when Rome falls, the world."[73]

The name was probably derived from its size; the amphitheatre of Capua was also called Colossus.

"When one looks at the Coliseum everything else becomes small; it is so great that one cannot keep its true image in one's soul; one only remembers it on a smaller scale, and returning thither again finds it again grown larger."—Goethe, Romische Briefe.

Once or twice in the course of every Roman winter the Coliseum is illuminated with Bengal lights.

"Les étrangers se donnent parfois l'amusement d'éclairer le Colisée avec des feux de Bengale. Cela ressemble un peu trop à un finale de mélodrame, et on peut préférer comme illumination un radieux soleil on les douces lueurs de la lune. Cependant j'avoue que la première fois que le Colisée m'apparut ainsi, embrasé de feux rougeâtres, son histoire me revint vivement à la pensée. Je trouvais qu'il avait en ce moment sa vraie couleur, la couleur du sang."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 156.

CHAPTER V.

THE VELABRUM AND THE GHETTO.

S. Teodoro—Sta. Anastasia—Circus Maximus—S. Giorgio in Velabro—Arch of Septimius Severus—Arch of Janus—Cloaca-Maxima—Sta. Maria in Cosmedin—Temple of Vesta—Temple of Fortuna Virilis—House of Rienzi—Ponte-Rotto—Ponte Sublicio—S. Nicolo in Carcere—Theatre of Marcellus—Portico of Octavia—Pescheria—Jewish Synagogue—Palazzo Cenci—Fontana Tartarughe—Palazzo Mattei—Palazzo Caetani—Sta. Caterina dei Funari—Sta. Maria Campitelli—Palazzo Margana—Convent of the Tor de' Specchi.

THE second turn on the right of the Roman Forum is the Via dei Fienili, formerly the Vicus Tuscus, so called from the Etruscan colony established there after the drying up of the marsh which occupied that site in the earliest periods of Roman history. During the empire, this street, leading from the Forum to the Circus Maximus, was one of the most important. Martial speaks of its silk-mercers; from an inscription on a tomb we know that the fashionable tailors were to be found there; and the perfumers' shops were of such abundance as to give to part of the street the name of Vicus Thurarius. At its entrance was the statue of the Etruscan god, Vertumnus, the patron of the quarter.[74] This was the street by which the processions of the Circensian games passed from the Forum to the Circus Maximus. In one of the Verrine Orations, an accusation brought by Cicero against the patrician Verres, was that from avaricious motives he had paved even this street—used for processions of the Circus—in such a manner that he would not venture to use it himself.[75]

All this valley was once a stagnant marsh, left by inundations of the Tiber, for in early times the river often overflowed the whole valley between the Palatine and the Capitoline hills, and even reached as far as the foot of the Quirinal, where the Goat's Pool, at which Romulus disappeared, is supposed to have formed part of the same swamp. Ovid, in describing the processions of the games, speaks of the willows and rushes which once covered this ground, and the marshy places which one could not pass over except with bare feet:

"Qua Velabra solent in Circum ducere pompas,

Nil præter salices crassaque canna fuit,

Sæpe suburbanas rediens conviva per undas

Cantat, et ad nautas ebria verba jacit.

Nondum conveniens diversis iste figuris

Nomen ab averso ceperat amne deus.

Hic quoque lucus erat juncis et arundine densus,

Et pede velato non adeunda palus.

Stagna recesserunt, et aquas sua ripa coërcet:

Siccaque nunc tellus. Mos tamen ille manet."

Fast. vi. 405.

We even know the price which was paid for being ferried across the Velabrum: "it was a quadrans, three times as much as one pays now for the boat at the Ripetta."[76] The creation of the Cloaca Maxima had probably done much towards draining, but some fragments of the marsh remained to a late period.

According to Varro the name of the Velabrum was derived from vehere, because of the boats which were employed to convey passengers from one hill to the other.[77] Others derive the name from vela, also in reference to the mode of transit, or, according to another idea, in reference to the awnings which were stretched across the street to shelter the processions,—though the name was in existence long before any processions were thought of.

It was the waters of the Velabrum which bore the cradle of Romulus and Remus from the Tiber, and deposited it under the famous fig-tree of the Palatine.

On the left of the Via dei Fienili (shut in by a railing, generally closed, but which will be opened on appealing to the sacristan next door) is the round Church of S. Teodoro. The origin of this building is unknown. It used to be called the temple of Romulus, on the very slight foundation that the famous bronze wolf, mentioned by Dionysius as existing in the temple of Romulus, was found near this spot. Dyer supposes that it may have been the Temple of Cybele; this, however, was upon, and not under, the Palatine. Be they what they may, the remains were dedicated as a Christian church by Adrian I., in the eighth century, and some well preserved mosaics in the tribune are of that time.

"It is curious to note in Rome how many a modern superstition has its root in an ancient one, and how tenaciously customs still cling to the old localities. On the Capitoline hill the bronze she-wolf was once worshipped as the wooden Bambino is now. It stood in the Temple of Romulus, and there the ancient Romans used to carry children to be cured of their diseases by touching it. On the supposed site of the temple now stands the church dedicated to S. Teodoro, or Santo Toto, as he is called in Rome. Though names must have changed and the temple has vanished, and church after church has here decayed and been rebuilt, the old superstition remains, and the common people at certain periods still bring their sick children to Santo Toto, that he may heal them with his touch."—Story's Roba di Roma.[78]

Further on the left, still under the shadow of the Palatine Hill, is the large Church of Sta. Anastasia, containing, beneath the altar, a beautiful statue of the martyred saint reclining on a faggot.

"Notwithstanding her beautiful Greek name, and her fame as one of the great saints of the Greek Calendar, Sta. Anastasia is represented as a noble Roman lady, who perished during the persecution of Diocletian. She was persecuted by her husband and family for openly professing the Christian faith, but being sustained by the eloquent exhortations of St. Chrysogonus, she passed triumphantly, receiving in due time the crown of martyrdom, being condemned to the flames. Chrysogonus was put to death with the sword and his body thrown into the sea.

"According to the best authorities, these two saints did not suffer in Rome, but in Illyria; yet in Rome we are assured that Anastasia, after her martyrdom, was buried by her friend Apollina in the garden of her house under the Palatine hill and close to the Circus Maximus. There stood the church, dedicated in the fourth century, and there it now stands. It was one of the principal churches in Rome in the time of St. Jerome, who, according to ancient tradition, celebrated mass at one of the altars, which is still regarded with peculiar veneration."—Mrs. Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art.

It was the custom for the mediæval popes to celebrate their second mass of Christmas night in this church, for which reason Sta. Anastasia is still especially commemorated in that mass.

To the left of the high altar is the tomb of the learned Cardinal Mai, by the sculptor Benzoni, who owed everything to the kind interest with which this cardinal regarded him from childhood. The epitaph is remarkable. It is thus translated by Cardinal Wiseman:

"I, who my life in wakeful studies wore,

Bergamo's son, named Angelo, here lie.

The empyreal robe and crimson hat I bore,

Rome gave. Thou giv'st me, Christ, th' empyreal sky.

Awaiting Thee, long toil I could endure:

So with Thee be my rest now, sweet, secure."

Through this church, also, we may enter some of the subterraneous chambers of the Palace of the Cæsars.

The valley near this, between the Palatine and the Aventine, was the site of the Circus Maximus, of which the last vestiges were destroyed in the time of Paul V. Its ground plan can, however, be identified, with the assistance of the small circus of Maxentius on the Via Appia, which still partially exists. It was intended for chariot-races and horse-races, and is said to have been first instituted by Tarquinius Priscus after his conquest of the Latin town of Apiolæ. It was a vast oblong, ending in a semicircle, and surrounded by three rows of seats, termed collectively cavea. In the centre of the area was the low wall called the spina, at each end of which were the metæ, or goals. Between the metæ were columns supporting the ova, egg-shaped balls, and Delphinæ, or dolphins, each seven in number, one of which was put up for each circuit made in the race. At the extremity of the Circus were the stalls for the horses and chariots called Carceres. This, the square end of the Circus, was termed oppidum, from its external resemblance to a town, with walls and towers. In the Circus Maximus, which was used for hunting wild beasts, Julius Cæsar made a canal, called Euripus,[79] ten feet wide, between the seats and the racecourse, to protect the spectators. The Ludi Circenses were first established by Romulus, to attract his Sabine neighbours, in order that he might supply his city with wives. The games were generally at the expense of the ædiles, and their cost was so great, that Cæsar was obliged to sell his Tiburtine villa, to defray those given during his ædileship. Perhaps the most magnificent games known were those in the reign of Carinus (Imp. A.D. 283), when the Circus was transformed into an artificial forest, in which hundreds of wild beasts and birds were slaughtered. At one time this Circus was capable of containing 385,000 persons.

At the western extremity of the Circus Maximus stood the Temple of Ceres, Liber, and Libera (said to have been vowed by the Dictator Albus Postumius, at the battle of the Lake Regillus), dedicated by the Consul Sp. Cassius, B.C. 492.

"Quand le père de Cassius l'eut immolé de ses propres mains à l'avidité patricienne, il fit don du pécule de son fils—un fils n'avait que son pécule comme un esclave—à ce même temple de Cérès que Spurius Cassius avait consacré, et par une féroce ironie, mit au bas de la statue faite avec cet argent, et qu'il dédiait à la déesse: 'Don de la famille Cassia.'

"L'ironie était d'autant plus amère, que l'on vendait auprès du temple de Cérès ceux qui avaient offensé au tribun.

"Ce temple, mis particulièrement sous la surveillance des édiles et où ils avaient leurs archives, était le temple de la démocratie romaine. Le farouche patricien le choisit pour lui faire adresser par son fils mort au service de la démocratie un dérisoire hommage."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. ii. 416.

We must now retrace our steps for a short distance, and descend into a hollow on the left, which we have passed, between the churches of S. Teodoro and Sta. Anastasia.

Here an interesting group of buildings still stands to mark the site of the famous ox-market, Forum Boarium. In its centre a brazen bull, brought from Egina,[80] once commemorated the story of the oxen of Geryon, which Hercules left to pasture on this marshy site, and which were stolen hence by Cacus,—and is said by Ovid to have given a name to the locality:

"Pontibus et magno juncta est celeberrima Circo

Area, quæ posito de bove nomen habet."

Fast. vi. 478.

The fact of this place being used as a market for oxen is mentioned by Livy.[81]

The Forum Boarium is associated with several deeds of cruelty. After the battle of Cannæ, a male and female Greek and a male and female Gaul were buried alive here;[82] and here the first fight of gladiators took place, being introduced by M. and D. Brutus, at the funeral of their father in B.C. 264.[83] Here the Vestal virgins buried the sacred utensils of their worship, at the spot called Doliola, when they fled from Rome after the battle of the Allia.[84]

Amongst the buildings which once existed in the Forum Boarium, but of which no trace remains, were the Temple of the Sabine deity Matuta, and the Temple of Fortune, both ascribed to Servius Tullius.

"Hac ibi luce ferunt Matutæ sacra parenti,

Sceptiferas Servi templa dedisse manus."

Ovid, Fast. vi. 479.

"Lux eadem, Fortuna, tua est, auctorque, locusque,

Sed superinjectis quis latet æde togis?

Servius est: hoc constat enim——"

Fast. vi. 569.

The Temple of Fortune was rebuilt by Lucullus, and Dion Cassius mentions that the axle of Julius Cæsar's car broke down in front of it on occasion of one of his triumphs.[85] Another temple in this neighbourhood was that of Pudicitia Patricia, into which the noble ladies refused to admit Virginia, because she had espoused a plebeian consul[86] (see Chap. X.). Here, also, was the Temple of Hercules Victor, erected by Pompey.[87] The two earliest triumphal arches were built in this forum, being in honour of L. Stertinius, erected B.C. 196, after his victories in Spain.

The building which first attracts attention, among those now standing, is the Arch of Janus, the Sabine god. It has four equal sides and arches, turned to the four points of the compass, and forty-eight niches, probably intended for the reception of small statues. Bas-reliefs on the inverted blocks employed in the lower part of this edifice, show that they must have been removed from earlier buildings. This was probably used as a portico for shelter or business for those who trafficked in the Forum; there were many similar porticoes in ancient Rome.

On the left of the arch of Janus is a narrow alley, spanned by low brick arches, which leads first to the beautiful clear spring of the Aqua Argentina, which, according to some authorities, is the place where Castor and Pollux watered their horses after the battle of the Lake Regillus.

"Then on rode those strange horsemen,

With slow and lordly pace;

And none who saw their bearing

Durst ask their name or race.

On rode they to the Forum,

While laurel boughs and flowers

From house-tops and from windows,

Fell on their crests in showers.

"When they drew nigh to Vesta,

They vaulted down amain,

And washed their horses in the well

That springs by Vesta's fane.

And straight again they mounted

And rode to Vesta's door;

Then, like a blast, away they passed,

And no man saw them more."

Macaulay's Lays.

The alley is closed by an arch of the celebrated Cloaca Maxima, the famous drain formed by Tarquinius Priscus, fifth king of Rome, to dry the marshy land of the Velabrum.

"Infima urbis loca circa Forum, aliasque interjectas collibus convalles, quia ex planis locis haud facile evehebant aquas, cloacis a fastigio in Tiberim ductis siccat."—Livy, lib. i. c. 38.

The Cloaca extended from the Forum to the Tiber, and is still, after 2,400 years, used, during the latter part of its course, for the purpose for which it was originally intended, though Pliny was filled with wonder that, in his time, it had already withstood the earthquakes, inundations, and accidents of seven hundred years. Strabo tells that the tunnel of the Cloaca was of sufficient height to admit a waggon laden with hay, but this probably supposes the water at its lowest. Agrippa, who cleaned out the Cloaca, navigated its whole length in a boat. The mouth of the Cloaca, composed of three concentric courses of blocks of peperino, without cement, is visible on the river a little to the right of the temple of Vesta.

"Ces lieux ont encore un air et comme une odeur de marécage—quand on rôde aux approches de la nuit dans ce coin désert de Rome où fut placée la scène des premiers moments de son premier roi, on y retrouve, à présent mieux qu'au temps de Tite-Live, quelque chose de l'impression que ce lieu devait produire il y a vingt-cinq siècles, à l'époque où, selon la vieille tradition, le berceau de Romulus s'arrêta dans les boues du Vélabre, au pied du Palatin, près de l'antre Lupercal. Il faut s'écarter un peu de cet endroit, qui était au pied du versant occidental du Palatin, et faire quelques pas à droite pour aller chercher les traces du Vélabre là où les rues et les habitations modernes ne les ont pas entièrement effacées. En s'avançant vers la Cloaca Maxima, on rencontre un enfoncement où une vieille église, elle-même au dedans humide et moisie, rappelle par son nom, San Giorgio in Velabro, que le Vélabre a été là. On voit sourdre encore les eaux qui l'alimentaient sous une voûte sombre et froide, tapissée de mousses, de scolopendres et de grandes herbes frissonnant dans la nuit. Alentour, tout a un aspect triste et abandonné, abandonné comme le furent au bord du marais, suivant l'antique récit, les enfants dont on croit presque ouïr dans le crépuscule les vagissements. L'imagination n'a pas de peine à se représenter les arbres et les plantes aquatiques qui croissaient sur le bord de cet enfoncement que voilà, et à travers lesquelles la louve de la légende se glissait à cette heure pour venir boire à cette eau. Ces lieux sont assez peu fréquentés et assez silencieux pour qu'on se les figure comme ils étaient alors, alors qu'il n'y avait ici, comme dit Tite-Live, vrai cette fois, que des solitudes désertes: Vastæ tunc solitudines erant."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. i. 271.

The church with the picturesque campanile near the arch of Janus, is S. Giorgio in Velabro, founded in the fourth century, as the Basilica Sempronia, but repeatedly rebuilt. The architrave above its portico was that where Rienzi affixed his famous inscription, announcing the return to the Good Estate: "In breve tempo gli Romani torneranno al loro antico buono stato." The church is seldom open, except on its festival (Jan. 20), and during its station in Lent. The interior is in the basilica form, the long nave being lined by sixteen columns, of various sizes, and with strangely different capitals, showing that they have been plundered from ancient temples. The carving on some of the capitals is sharp and delicate. There is a rather handsome ancient baldacchino, with an old Greek picture let into its front, over the high altar. Beneath is preserved a fragment of the banner of St George. Some injured frescoes in the tribune replace mosaics which once existed here, and which were attributed to Giotto. In the centre is the Saviour, between the Virgin and St. Peter; on one side, St. George with the martyr's palm and the warrior's banner,—on the other, St. Sebastian, with an arrow. Several fragments of carving and inscriptions are built into the side walls. The pictures are poor and ugly which relate to the saint of the church, St. George (the patron of England and Germany), the knight of Cappadocia, who delivered the Princess Cleodolinda from the dragon.

"Among good specimens of thirteenth century architecture is the portico of S. Giorgio, with Ionic columns and horizontal architrave, on which is a gothic inscription, in quaint Leonine verse, informing us that the Cardinal (or Prior) Stephen, added this detail (probably the campanile also), to the ancient church—about the middle of the thirteenth century, as is supposed, though no date is given here; and in the midst of an age so alien to classic influences, a work in which classic feeling thus predominates, is remarkable."—Heman's Sacred Art.

Partly hidden by the portico of this church, is the beautiful miniature Arch of Septimius Severus, erected to the emperor, his wife Julia Pia, and his sons Caracalla and Geta, by the silversmiths (argentarii) who had their shops in the Forum Boarium on this very spot ("cujus loci qui invehent"). The part of the dedication relating to Geta (as in the larger arch of Septimius) was obliterated after his murder, and the words FORTISSIMO FELICISSIMOQUE PRINCIPI engraved in its place. The architecture and sculpture, part of which represents a sacrifice by the imperial family, prove the decadence of art at this period.

Proceeding in a direct line from the Arch of Janus, we reach the Church of Sta. Maria in Cosmedin, on the site of a Temple of Ceres, dedicated by the consul Spurius Cassius, B.C. 493, and afterwards re-dedicated to Ceres and Proserpine, probably by Augustus, who had been initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries in Greece. The church was built in the basilica form, in 782, by Adrian I., when the name Cosmedin, from the Greek κοσμος, is supposed to have been given, from the ornaments with which he adorned it It was intended for the use of the Greek exiles expelled from the East by the iconoclasts under Constantine Copronimus, and derived the epithet of Sta. Maria in Scuola Greca, from a "Schola" attached to it for their benefit. Another relic of the Greek colony which existed here is to be found in the name of the adjoining street, Via della Greca. In the middle ages the whole bank of the river near this was called Ripa Greca.

The interior of this church is of great interest. The nave is divided from the aisles by twelve ancient marble columns, of which two have especially curious antique capitals, and are evidently remains of the temple which once existed here. The choir is raised, as at S. Clemente. The pavement is of splendid Opus Alexandrinum (1120); the ambones are perfect; there is a curious crypt; the altar covers an ancient bason of red granite, and is shaded by a gothic canopy, supported by four Egyptian granite pillars; behind it is a fine episcopal throne, with lions, said to have been used by St. Augustine, an ancient Greek picture of the Virgin, and a graceful tabernacle of marble inlaid with mosaic, by Deodato Cosmati. In the sacristy is a very curious mosaic, one of the few relics preserved from the old St Peter's, A.D. 705. (There is another in S. Marco at Florence.) Crescimbeni, the founder and historian of the Arcadian Academy (d. 1728), is buried in this church, of which he was a canon. On St. Valentine's Day the skull of St. Valentine, crowned with roses, is exhibited here.

In the portico is the strange and huge mask of stone, which gives the name of Bocca della Verita to the neighbouring piazza. It was believed that if a witness, whose truthfulness was doubtful, were desired to place his hand in the mouth of this mask, he would be unable to withdraw it, if he were guilty of perjury.

"Cette Bouche-de-Vérité est une curieuse relique du moyen âge. Elle servait aux jugements de Dieu. Figurez-vous une meule de moulin qui ressemble, non pas à un visage humain, mais au visage de la lune: on y distingue des yeux, un nez et une bouche ouverte où l'accusé mettait la main pour prêter serment. Cette bouche mordait les menteurs; au moins la tradition l'assure. J'y ai introduit ma dextre en disant que le Ghetto était un lieu de délices, et je n'ai pas été mordu."—About, Rome Contemporaine.

On the other side of the portico is the tomb of Cardinal Alfanus, ob. 1150.

"The church was rebuilt under Calixtus II.; about A.D. 1128, by Alfanus, Roman Chancellor, whose marble sepulchre stands in the atrium, with his epitaph, along a cornice, giving him that most comprehensive title, 'an honest man,' vir probus. Some more than half-faded paintings, a Madonna and Child, angels, and two mitred heads, on the wall behind the canopy, give importance to this Chancellor's tomb. Though now disfigured exteriorly by a modern façade in the worst style, interiorly by a waggon-vault roof and heavy pilasters, this church is still one of the mediæval gems of Rome, and retains many olden details: the classic colonnades, probably left in their original place since the time of Adrian I.; and the fine campanile, one of the loftiest in Rome; also the sculptured doorway, the rich intarsio pavement, the high altar, the marble and mosaic-inlaid ambones, the marble episcopal throne, with supporting lions and a mosaic decoration above, &c.,—all of the twelfth century. But we have to regret the destruction of the ancient choir-screens, and (still more inexcusable) the white-washing of wall surfaces so as entirely to conceal the mediæval paintings which adorned them, conformably to that once almost universal practice of polychrome decoration in churches, prescribed even by law under Charlemagne. Ciampini (see his valuable history of this basilica) mentions the iron rods for curtains between the columns of the atrium, and those, still in their place, in the porch, with rings for suspending; also a small chapel with paintings, at one end of the atrium, designed for those penitents who were not allowed to worship within the sacred building—as such, an evidence of disciplinary observance, retained till the twelfth century. Over the portal are some tiny bas-reliefs, so placed along the inner side of the lintel that many might pass underneath without seeing them: in the centre, a hand blessing, with the Greek action, between two sheep, laterally; the four evangelistic emblems, and two doves, each pecking out of a vase, and one perched upon a dragon (more like a lizard), to signify the victory of the purified soul over mundane temptations."—Hemans' Christian Art.

Close to this church stood the Palace of Pope Gelasius II. (1118).

Opposite the church is a beautiful fountain, erected by one of the Medici, and beyond it the graceful round temple now called the Temple of Vesta, supposed by Canina to have been that of Mater Matuta, and by others to have been that of Hercules founded by Pompey. It is known to have existed in the time of Vespasian. It is very small, the circumference of the peristyle being only 156 feet, and that of the cella 26 feet,—the height of the surrounding Corinthian columns (originally twenty in number) 32 feet This temple was first dedicated as a church under the name of S. Stefano delle Carrozze; it is now called Sta. Maria del Sole.

This is not the Temple of Vesta (which was situated near the Church of Sta. Maria Liberatrice in the Forum) of which Horace wrote:—

"Vidimus flavum Tiberim, retortis

Littore Etrusco violenter undis,

Ire dejectum monumenta regum

Templaque Vestæ."

Carm. i. 2.

The modern overhanging roof of the temple has been much objected to, as it replaces an entablature like that on the temple of the Sibyl at Tivoli; but artists admire the exquisite play of light and shade caused by its rugged tiles, and, finding it a perfect "subject," wish for no change.

"C'est auprès de la Bouche-de-Vérité, devant le petit temple de Vesta, que la justice romaine exécute un meurtrier sur cent. Quand j'arrivai sur la place, on n'y guillotinait personne; mais six cuisinières, dont une aussi belle que Junon, dansaient la tarantelle au son d'un tambour de basque. Malheureusement elles divinèrent ma qualité d'étranger, et elles se mirent à polker contre la mesure."—About.

Close to this—overhanging a little hollow way—is the Temple of Fortuna Virilis, built originally by Servius Tullius, but rebuilt during the republic, and, if the existing building is really republican, the most ancient temple remaining in Rome. It is surrounded by Ionic columns (one side being enclosed in other buildings), 28 feet high, clothed with hard stucco, and supporting an entablature adorned with figures of children, oxen, candelabra, &c. The Roman matrons had a great regard for this goddess, who was supposed to have the power of concealing their personal imperfections from the eyes of men. At the close of the tenth century this temple was consecrated to the Virgin, but has since been bestowed upon St. Mary of Egypt.

Hard by, is a picturesque end of building, laden with rich but incongruous sculpture, at one time called "The House of Pilate," but now known as the House of Rienzi. It derives its present name from a long inscription over a doorway, which tallies with the bombastic epithets assumed by "The Last of the Tribunes" in his pompous letter of Aug. 1, 1347, when, in his semi-madness, he summoned kings and emperors to appear before his judgment-seat. The inscription closes:—

"Primus de primis magnus Nicolaus ab imis,

Erexit patrum decus ob renovare suorum.

Stat patris Crescens matrisque Theodora nomen.

Hoc culmen clarum caro de pignore gessit,

Davidi tribuit qui pater exhibuit."

It is believed, from the inscription, that the house was fortified by Nicholas, son of Crescentius and Theodora, who gave it to David, his son; that the Crescentius alluded to was son of the famous patrician who headed the populace against Otho III.; and that, three centuries later, the house may have belonged to Cola di Rienzi, a name which is, in fact, only popular language for Niccola Crescenzo. It is, however, known that Rienzi was not born in this house, but in a narrow street behind S. Tommaso, in the Rione alla Regola, where his father Lorenzo kept an inn, and his mother, Maddalena, gained her daily bread as a washerwoman and water-carrier—so were the Crescenzi fallen!

Here is the entrance to a suspension-bridge, which joins the remaining arches of the Ponte Rotto, and leads to the Trastevere. On this site was the Pons Æmilius, begun, B.C. 180, by M. Æmilius Lepidus and Marcus Fulvius Nobilior, and finished by P. Scipio Africanus and L. Mummius, the censors, in B.C. 142. Hence the body of the Emperor Heliogabalus was thrown into the Tiber. The bridge has been three times rebuilt by different popes, but two of its arches were finally carried away in an inundation of 1598, and have never since been replaced. The existing remains, which only date from the time of Julius III., are highly picturesque.

"Quand on a établi un pont en fil de fer, on lui a donné pour base les piles du Ponte-Rotto, élevé au moyen âge sur les fondements du Pons Palatinus, qui fut achevé sous la censure de Scipion l'Africain. Scipion l'Africain et un pont en fil de fer, voilà de ces contrastes qu'on ne trouve qu'à Rome."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 209.

From this bridge is the best view of the Isola Tiberina and its bridges, and hence, also, the Temple of Vesta is seen to great advantage. Just below is the mouth of the Cloaca Maxima.

"Quand du Ponte-Rotto on considère le triple cintre de l'ouverture par laquelle la Cloaca Maxima se déchargeait dans le Tibre, on a devant les yeux un monument qui rappelle beaucoup de grandeur et beaucoup d'oppression. Ce monument extraordinaire est une page importante de l'histoire romaine. Il est à la fois la suprême expression de la puissance des rois étrusques et le signe avant-coureur de leur chute. L'on croit voir l'arc triomphal de la royauté par où devait entrer la république."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. ii. 233.

In the bed of the river a little lower down may be seen, at low water, some massive fragments of masonry. Here stood the Pons Sublicius, the oldest bridge in Rome, built by Ancus Martius (B.C. 639), on which Horatius Cocles and his two companions "kept the bridge" against the Etruscan army of Lars Porsenna, till—

"Back darted Spurius Lartius;

Herminius darted back:

And, as they passed, beneath their feet

They felt the timbers crack.

But when they turned their faces,

And on the farther shore

Saw brave Horatius stand alone,

They would have crossed once more.

"But with a crash like thunder

Fell every loosened beam,

And, like a dam, the mighty wreck

Lay right athwart the stream:

And a long shout of triumph

Rose from the walls of Rome,

As to the highest turret-tops

Was splashed the yellow foam."

Macaulay's Lays.

The name "Sublicius" came from the wooden beams of its construction, which enabled the Romans to cut it away. The bridge was rebuilt by Tiberius and again by Antoninus Pius, each time of beams, but upon stone piers, of which the present remains are fragments, the rest having been destroyed by an inundation in the time of Adrian I.

On the Trastevere bank, between these two bridges, half hidden in shrubs and ivy (but worth examination in a boat), are two gigantic Heads of Lions, to which in ancient times chains were fastened, and drawn across the river to prevent hostile vessels from passing.

Near this we enter the Via S. Giovanni Decollato, decorated with numerous heads of John the Baptist in the dish, let into the walls over the doors of the houses. The "Confraternità della Misericordia di S. Giovanni Decollato," founded in 1488, devote themselves to criminals condemned to death. They visit them in prison, accompany them to execution, receive their bodies, and offer masses for their souls in their little chapel. Vasari gives the highest praise to two pictures of Francesco Salviati in the Church of S. Giov. Decollato, "before which all Rome stood still in admiration,"—representing the appearance of the angel to Zacharias, and the meeting of the Virgin and Elizabeth.

On the left is the Hospital of Sta. Galla, commemorating the pious foundation of a Roman matron in the time of John I. (523—526), who attained such celebrity, that she is still commemorated in the Roman mass by the prayer—

"Almighty and merciful God, who didst adorn the blessed Galla with the virtue of a wonderful love towards thy poor; grant us, through her merits and prayers, to practise works of love, and to obtain Thy mercy, through the Lord, &c. Amen."

On, or very near this site, stood the Porta Carmentalis, which, with the temple beside it, commemorated Carmenta, the supposed mother of Evander, a Sabine prophetess, who is made by Ovid to predict the future grandeur of Rome.[88] Carmenta was especially invoked by women in childbirth. The Porta Carmentalis was reached from the Forum by the Vicus Jugarius. It was by this route that the Fabii went forth to meet their doom in the valley of the Crimera. The Porta had two gates—one for those who entered, the other for those who left it, so that in each case the passenger passed through the "Janus," as it was called, upon his right. After the massacre of the Fabii, the road by which they left the city was avoided, and the Janus Carmentalis on the right was closed, and called the Porta Scelerata.

"Carmentis portæ dextro via proxima Jano est

Ire per hanc noli, quisquis es; omen habet."

Ovid, Fast. ii. 201.

Just beyond the Porta Carmentalis was the district called Tarentum, where there was a subterranean "Ara Ditis Patris et Proserpinæ."

We now reach (left) the Church of S. Nicolo in Carcere. It has a mean front, with an inscription in honour of one of the Aldobrandini family, and is only interesting as occupying the site of the three Temples of Juno Matuta, Piety(?), and Hope, which are believed to mark the site of the Forum Olitorium. The vaults beneath the church contain the massive substructions of these temples, and fragments of their columns.

The central temple is believed to be that of Piety, built by M. Acilius Glabrio, the duumvir, in B.C. 165 (though Pliny says that this temple was on the site afterwards occupied by the theatre of Marcellus), in fulfilment of a vow made by his father, a consul of the same name, on the day of his defeating the forces of Antiochus the Great, king of Syria, at Thermopylæ. Others endeavour to identify it with the temple built on the site of the Decemviral prisons, to keep up the recollection of the famous story, called the "Caritas Romana,"—of a woman condemned to die of hunger in prison being nourished by the milk of her own daughter. Pliny and Valerius Maximus tell the story as of a mother; Festus only speaks of a father;[89]—yet art and poetry have always followed the latter legend. A cell is shown, by torchlight, as the scene of this touching incident.

"There is a dungeon, in whose dim drear light

What do I gaze on? Nothing. Look again!

Two forms are slowly shadowed on my sight—

Two insulated phantoms of the brain:

It is not so; I see them full and plain—

An old man, and a female young and fair,

Fresh as a nursing mother, in whose vein

The blood is nectar:—but what doth she there,

With her unmantled neck, and bosom white and bare?

"But here youth offers to old age the food,

The milk of his own gift:—it is her sire,

To whom she renders back the debt of blood

Born with her birth. No, he shall not expire

While in those warm and lovely veins the fire

Of health and holy feeling can provide

Great Nature's Nile, whose deep stream rises higher

Than Egypt's river;—from that gentle side

Drink, drink, and live, old man! Heaven's realm holds no such tide.

"The starry fable of the milky-way

Has not thy story's purity; it is

A constellation of a sweeter ray,

And sacred Nature triumphs more in this

Reverse of her decree, than in the abyss

Where sparkle distant worlds:—Oh, holiest nurse!

No drop of that clear stream its way shall miss

To thy sire's heart, replenishing its source

With life, as our freed souls rejoin the universe."

Childe Harold.

A memorial of this story of a prison is preserved in the name of the church—S. Nicolo in Carcere. It was probably owing to this legend that, in front of the Temple of Piety, was placed the Columna Lactaria, where infants were exposed, in the hope that some one would take pity upon and nurse them out of charity.

A wide opening out of the street near this, with a pretty fountain, is called the Piazza Montanara, and is one of the places where the country people collect and wait for hire.

"Le dimanche est le jour où les paysans arrivent à Rome. Ceux qui cherchent l'emploi de leurs bras viennent se louer aux marchands de campagne, c'est-à-dire aux fermiers. Ceux qui sont loués et qui travaillent hors des murs viennent faire leurs affaires et renouveler leurs provisions. Ils entrent en ville au petit jour après avoir marché une bonne partie de la nuit. Chaque famille amène un âne, qui porte le bagage. Hommes, femmes, et enfants, poussant leur âne devant eux, s'établissent dans un coin de la place Farnèse, ou de la place Montanara. Les boutiques voisines restent ouvertes jusqu'à midi, par un privilège spécial. On va, on vient, on achète, on s'accroupit dans les coins pour compter les pièces de cuivre. Cependant les ânes se reposent sur leurs quatre pieds au bord des fontaines. Les femmes, vêtues d'un corset en cuirasse, d'un tablier rouge, et d'une veste rayée, encadrent leur figure hâlée dans une draperie de linge très-blanc. Elles sont toutes à peindre sans exception: quand ce n'est pas pour la beauté de leurs traits, c'est pour l'élégance naïve de leurs attitudes. Les hommes ont le long manteau bleu de ciel et le chapeau pointu; là-dessous leurs habits de travail font merveille, quoique roussis par le temps et couleur de perdrix. Le costume n'est pas uniforme; on voit plus d'un manteau amadou rapiécé de bleu vif ou de rouge garance. Le chapeau de paille abonde en été. La chaussure est très-capricieuse; soulier, botte et sandale foulent successivement le pavé. Les déchaussés trouvent ici près de grandes et profondes boutiques où l'on vend des marchandises d'occasion. Il y a des souliers de tout cuir et de tout âge dans ces trésors de la chaussure; on y trouverait des cothurnes de l'an 500 de la république, en cherchant bien. Je viens de voir un pauvre diable qui essayait une paire de bottes à revers. Elles vont à ses jambes comme une plume à l'oreille d'un porc, et c'est plaisir de voir la grimace qu'il fait chaque fois qu'il pose le pied à terre. Mais le marchand le fortifie par de bonnes paroles: 'Ne crains rien,' lui dit-il, 'tu souffriras pendant cinq ou six jours, et puis tu n'y penseras plus.' Un autre marchand débite des clous à la livre: le chaland les enfonce lui-même dans ses semelles; il y a des bancs ad hoc. Le long des murs, cinq ou six chaises de paille servent de boutique à autant de barbiers en plein vent. Il en coute un sou pour abattre une barbe de huit jours. Le patient, barbouillé de savon, regarde le ciel d'un œil résigné; le barbier lui tire le nez, lui met les doigts dans la bouche, s'interrompt pour aiguiser le rasoir sur un cuir attaché au dossier de la chaise, ou pour écorner une galette noire qui pend au mur. Cependant l'opération est faite en un tour de main; le rasé se lève et sa place est prise. Il pourrait aller se laver à la fontaine, mais il trouve plus simple de s'essuyer du revers de sa manche.

"Les écrivains publics alternent avec les barbiers. On leur apporte les lettres qu'on a reçues; ils les lisent et font la réponse: total, trois sous. Dès qu'un paysan s'approche de la table pour dicter quelque-chose, cinq ou six curieux se réunissent officieusement autour de lui pour mieux entendre. Il y a une certaine bonhomie dans cette indiscrétion. Chacun place son mot, chacun donne un conseil: 'Tu devrais dire ceci.'—'Non; dis plutôt cela.'—'Laissez-le parler,' crie un troisième, 'il sait mieux que vous ce qu'il veut faire écrire.'

"Quelques voitures chargées de galettes d'orge et de maïs circulent au milieu de la foule. Un marchand de limonade, armé d'une pince de bois, écrase les citrons dans les verres. L'homme sobre boit à la fontaine en faisant un aqueduc des bords de son chapeau. Le gourmet achète des viandes d'occasion devant un petit étalage, où les rebuts de cuisine se vendent à la poignée. Pour un sou, le débitant remplit de bœuf haché et d'os de côtelettes un morceau de vieux journal; une pincée de sel ajoutée sur le tout pare agréablement la denrée. L'acheteur marchande, non sur le prix, qui est invariable, mais sur la quantité; il prend au tas quelques bribes de viande, et on le laisse faire; car rien ne se conclut à Rome sans marchander.

"Les ermites et les moines passent de groupe en groupe en quêtant pour les âmes du purgatoire. M'est avis que ces pauvres ouvriers font leur purgatoire en ce monde; et qu'il vaudrait mieux leur donner de l'argent que de leur en demander; ils donnent pourtant, et sans se faire tirer l'oreille.

"Quelquefois un beau parleur s'amuse à raconter une histoire; on fait cercle autour de lui, et à mesure que l'auditoire augmente il élève la voix. J'ai vu de ces conteurs qui avaient la physionomie bien fine et bien heureuse; mais je ne sais rien de charmant comme l'attention de leur public. Les peintres du quinzième siècle ont dû prendre à la place Montanara les disciples qu'ils groupaient autour du Christ."—About, Rome Contemporaine.

An opening on the left discloses the vast substructions of the Theatre of Marcellus. This huge edifice seems to have been projected by Julius Caesar, but he probably made little progress in it. It was actually erected by Augustus, and dedicated (c. 13 B.C.) in memory of the young nephew whom he married to his daughter Julia, and intended as his successor, but who was cut off by an early death. The theatre was capable of containing 20,000 spectators, and consisted of three tiers of arches, but the upper range has disappeared, and the lower is very imperfect. Still it is a grand remnant, and rises magnificently above the paltry houses which surround it. The perfect proportions of its Doric and Ionic columns served as models to Palladio.

"Le mur extérieur du portique demi-circulaire qui enveloppait les gradins offre encore à notre admiration deux étages d'arceaux et de colonnes doriques et ioniques d'une beauté presque grecque. L'étage supérieur, qui devait être corinthien, a disparu. Les fornices, ou voûtes du rez-de chaussée, sont habitées encore aujourd'hui comme elles l'étaient dans l'antiquité, mais plus honnêtement, par de pauvres gens qui vendent des ferrailles. Au-dessous des belles colonnes de l'enceinte extérieure, on a construit des maisons modernes dans lesquelles sont pratiquées des fenêtres, et à ces fenêtres du théâtre de Marcellus, on voit des pots à fleurs, ni plus ni moins qu à une mansarde de la rue Saint Denis; des chemises sèchent sur l'entablement; des cheminées surmontent la ruine romaine, et un grand tube se dessine à l'extrémité.

"Dans les jeux célébrés à l'occasion de la dédicace du théâtre de Marcellus, on vit pour la première fois un tigre apprivoisé, tigrim mansuefactum. Dans ce tigre le peuple romain pouvait contempler son image."—Ampère, Emp. i. 256.

In the middle ages this theatre was the fortress of the great family of Pierleoni, the rivals of the Frangipani, who occupied the Coliseum; their name is commemorated by the neighbouring street, Via Porta Leone. The constant warfare in which they were engaged with their neighbours did much to destroy the building, whose interior became reduced to a mass of ruins, forming a hill, upon which Baldassare Peruzzi (1526) built the Palazzo Savelli, of which the entrance, flanked by the two armorial bears of the family, may be seen in the street (Via Savelli) which leads to the Ponte Quattro Capi.

"Au dix-septième siècle, les Savelli exerçaient encore une jurisdiction féodale. Leur tribunal, aussi régulièrement constitué que pas un, s'appellait Corte Savella.[90] Ils avaient le droit d'arracher tous les ans un criminel à la peine de mort: droit de grâce, droit régalien reconnu par la monarchie absolue des papes. Les femmes de cette illustre famille ne sortaient point de leurs palais sinon dans un carosse bien fermé. Les Orsini et les Colonna se vantaient que pendant les siècles, aucun traité de paix n'avait été conclu entre les princes chrétiens, dans lequel ils n'eussent été nominativement compris."—About.

The palace has now passed to the family of Orsini-Gravina, who descended from a senator of A.D. 1200. The princes of Orsini and Colonna, in their quality as attendants on the throne (principi assistenti al soglio), take precedence of all other Roman nobles.

"Nicolovius will remember the Theatre of Marcellus, in which the Savelli family built a palace. My house is half of it. It has stood empty for a considerable time, because the drive into the courtyard (the interior of the ancient theatre) rises like the slope of a mountain upon the heaps of rubbish; although the road has been cut in a zig-zag, it is still a break-neck affair. There is another entrance from the Piazza Montanara, whence a flight of seventy-three steps leads up to the same story I have mentioned; the entrance-hall of which is on a level with the top of the carriage-way through the courtyard. The apartments in which we shall live are those over the colonnade of Ionic pillars forming the third story of the ancient theatre, and some, on a level with them, which have been built out like wings on the rubbish of the ruins. These enclose a little quadrangular garden, which is indeed very small, only about eighty or ninety feet long, and scarcely so broad, but so delightful! It contains three fountains—an abundance of flowers: there are orange-trees on the wall between the windows, and jessamine under them. We mean to plant a vine besides. From this story, you ascend forty steps, or more, higher, where I mean to have my own study, and there are most cheerful little rooms, from which you have a prospect over the whole country beyond the Tiber, Monte Mario, and St. Peter's, and can see over St. Pietro in Montorio, indeed almost as far as the Aventine. It would, I think, be possible besides to erect a loggia upon the roof (for which I shall save money from other things), that we may have a view over the Capitol, Forum, Palatine, Coliseum, and all the inhabited parts of the city."—Niebuhr's Letters.

Following the wall of the theatre, down a filthy street, we arrive at the picturesque group of ruins of the "Porticus Octaviæ," erected by Augustus, in honour of his sister (the unhappy wife of Antony), close to the theatre to which he had given the name of her son. The exact form of the building is known from the Pianta Capitolina,—that it was a parallelogram, surrounded by a double arcade of 270 columns, and enclosing the temples of Jupiter and Juno, built by the Greek architects, Batracus and Saurus.[91]

With regard to these temples, Pliny narrates a fact which reminds one of the story of the Madonna of Sta. Maria Nuova.[92] The porters having carelessly carried the statues of the gods to the wrong temples, it was imagined that they had done so from divine inspiration, and the people would not venture to remove them, so that the statues always remained where they had been placed, though their surroundings were utterly unsuitable.

The Portico of Octavia built by Augustus, occupied the site of an earlier portico—the Porticus Metelli—built by A. Cæcilius Metellus, after his triumph over Andriscus in Macedonia, in B.C. 146. Temples of Jupiter Stator and Juno existed also in this portico, one of them being the earliest temple built of marble in Rome. Before these temples Metellus placed the famous group of twenty-five bronze statues, which he had brought from Greece, executed by Lysippus for Alexander the Great, and representing that conqueror himself and twenty-four horsemen of his troop who had fallen at the Granicus.[93]

The existing fragment of the portico is the original entrance to the whole. The building had suffered from fire in the reign of Titus, and was restored by Septimius Severus, and of this time is the large brick arch on one side of the ruin.

"It was in this hall of Octavia that Titus and Vespasian celebrated their triumph over Israel with festive pomp and splendour. Among the Jewish spectators stood the historian Flavius Josephus, who was one of the followers and flatterers of Titus ... and to this base Jewish courtier we owe a description of the triumph."—Gregorovius, Wanderjahre in Italien.

Within the portico is the Church of S. Angelo in Pescheria. Here it was that Cola Rienzi summoned, at midnight—May 20, 1347—all good citizens to hold a meeting for the re-establishment of "the good estate;" here he kept the vigil of the Holy Ghost; and hence he went forth, bareheaded, in complete armour, accompanied by the papal legate, and attended by a vast multitude, to the Capitol, where he called upon the populace to ratify the Good Estate.

It is said that one of the causes which most incited the indignation of Rienzi against the assumption and pride of the Roman families, was the fact of their painting their arms on the ancient Roman buildings, and thus in a manner appropriating them to their own glory. Remains of coats of arms thus painted may be seen on the front wall of the Portico of Octavia. It was also on this very wall that Rienzi painted his famous allegorical picture. In this painting kings and men of the people were seen burning in a furnace, with a woman half consumed, who personified Rome,—and on the right was a church, whence issued a white-robed angel, bearing in one hand a naked sword, while with the other he plucked the woman from the flames. On the church tower were SS. Peter and Paul, crying to the angel, "Aquilo, aquilo, succurri a l'albergatrice nostra,"—and beyond this were represented falcons (typical of the Roman barons) falling from heaven into the flames, and a white dove bearing a wreath of olive, which it gave to a little bird (Rienzi), which was chased by the falcons. Beneath was inscribed: "I see the time of great justice, do thou await that time."

"Then turn we to her latest tribune's name,

From her ten thousand tyrants turn to thee,

Redeemer of dark centuries of shame—

The friend of Petrarch—hope of Italy—

Rienzi! last of Romans! While the tree

Of Freedom's wither'd trunk puts forth a leaf,

Even for thy tomb a garland let it be—

The forum's champion, and the people's chief—

Her newborn Numa thou—with reign, alas! too brief."

Childe Harold.

Through the brick arch of the Portico we enter upon the ancient Pescheria, with the marble fish-slabs of imperial times still remaining in use. It is a striking scene—the dark, many-storied houses almost meeting overhead and framing a narrow strip of deep blue sky,—below, the bright groups of figures and rich colouring of hanging cloths and drapery.

"C'est une des ruines les plus remarquables de Rome, et une de celles qui offrent ces contrastes piquants entre le passé et le présent, amusement perpétuel de l'imagination dans la ville des contrastes. Le portique d'Octavie est, aujourd'hui, le marché aux poissons. Les colonnes et le fronton s'élèvent au milieu de l'endroit le plus sale de Rome; leur effet n'en est pas moins pittoresque, il l'est peut-être davantage. Le lieu est fait pour une aquarelle, et quand un beau soleil éclaire les débris antiques, les vieux murs sombres de la rue étroite où la poisson se vend sur des tables de marbre blanc, et à travers laquelle des nattes sont tendues, on a, à côté du monument romain, le spectacle d'un marché du moyen âge, et un peu le souvenir d'un bazar d'Orient."—Ampère, Emp. i. 179.

"Who that has ever been to Rome does not remember Roman streets of an evening, when the day's work is done? They are all alive in a serene and homelike fashion. The old town tells its story. Low arches cluster with life—a life humble and stately, though rags hang from the citizens and the windows. You realize it as you pass them—their temples are in ruins, their rule is over—their colonies have revolted long centuries ago. Their gates and their columns have fallen like the trees of a forest, cut down by an invading civilization."—Miss Thackeray.

Here we are in the centre of the Jews' quarter—the famous Ghetto.

The name "Ghetto" is derived from the Hebrew word chat, broken, destroyed, shaven, cut down, cast off, abandoned (see the Hebrew in Isaiah xiv. 12; xv. 2; Jer. xlviii. 25, 27; Zech. xi. 10—14; &c.). The first Jewish slaves were brought to Rome by Pompey the Great, after he had taken Jerusalem, and forcibly entered the Holy of Holies. But for centuries after this they lived in Rome in wealth and honour, their princes Herod and Agrippa being received with royal distinction, and finding a home in the Palace of the Cæsars,—in which Berenice (or Veronica), the daughter of Agrippa, presided as the acknowledged mistress of Titus, who would willingly have made her empress of Rome. The chief Jewish settlement in imperial times was nearly on the site of their present abode, but they were not compelled to live here, and also had a large colony in the Trastevere; and when St. Peter was at Rome (if the Church tradition be true), he dwelt, with Aquila and Priscilla, on the slopes of the Aventine. Julius, Augustus, and Tiberius Cæsar treated the Jews with kindness, but under Caligula they already met with ill-treatment and contempt,—that emperor being especially irritated against them as the only nation which refused to yield him divine honours, and because they had successfully resisted the placing of his statue in the Holy of Holies at Jerusalem. On the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, thousands of Jewish slaves were brought to Rome, and were employed on the building of the Coliseum. At the same time Vespasian, while allowing the Hebrews in Rome the free exercise of their religion, obliged them to pay the tax of half a skekel, formerly paid into the Temple treasury, to Jupiter Capitolinus,—and this custom is still kept up in the annual tribute paid by the Jews in the Camera Capitolina.

Under Domitian the Jews were banished from the city to the valley of Egeria, where they lived in a state of poverty and outlawry, which is described by Juvenal,[94] and occupied themselves with soothsaying, love-charms, magic-potions, and mysterious cures.[95]

During the reigns of the earlier popes, the Jews at Rome enjoyed a great amount of liberty, and the anti-pope Anacletus II. (ob. 1138) was even the grandson of a baptized Jew, whose family bore a leading part in Rome, as one of the great patrician houses. The clemency with which the Jews were regarded was, however, partly due to their skill as physicians,—and long after their persecutions had begun (as late as Martin V., 1417—31), the physician of the Vatican was a Jew. The first really bitter enemy of the Jews was Eugenius IV. (Gabriele Condolmiere, 1431—39), who forbade Christians to trade, to eat, or to dwell with them, and prohibited them from walking in the streets, from building new synagogues, or from occupying any public post. Paul II. (1468) increased their humiliation by compelling them to run races during the Carnival, as the horses run now, amidst the hoots of the populace. This custom continued for two hundred years. Sprenger's "Roma Nuova" of 1667, mentions that "the asses ran first, then the Jews—naked, with only a band round their loins—then the buffaloes, then the Barbary horses." It was Clement IX. (Rospigliosi), in 1668, who first permitted the Jews to pay a sum equivalent to 1500 francs annually instead of racing.

"On the first Saturday in Carnival, it was the custom for the heads of the Jews in Rome to appear as a deputation before the Conservators in the Capitol. Throwing themselves upon their knees, they offered a nosegay and twenty scudi with the request that this might be employed to ornament the balcony in which the Roman Senate sate in the Piazza del Popolo. In like manner they went to the senator, and, after the ancient custom, implored permission to remain in Rome. The senator placed his foot on their foreheads, ordered them to stand up, and replied in the accustomed formula, that Jews were not adopted in Rome, but allowed from compassion to remain there. This humiliation has now disappeared, but the Jews still go to the Capitol, on the first Saturday of Carnival, to offer their homage and tribute for the pallii of the horses, which they have to provide, in memory that now the horses amuse the people in their stead."—Gregorovius, Wanderjahre.

The Jews were first shut up within the walls of the Ghetto by the fanatical Dominican pope, Paul IV. (Gio. Pietro Caraffa, 1555—59), and commanded never to appear outside it, unless the men were in yellow hats, or the women in yellow veils. "For," says the Bull Cum Nimis,

"It is most absurd and unsuitable that the Jews, whose own crime has plunged them into everlasting slavery, under the plea that Christian magnanimity allows them, should presume to dwell and mix with Christians, not bearing any mark of distinction, and should have Christian servants, yea, even buy houses."

The Ghetto, or Vicus Judæorum, as it was at first called, was shut in by walls which reached from the Ponte Quattro Capi to the Piazza del Pianto, or "Place of Weeping," whose name bears witness to the grief of the people on the 26th July, 1556, when they were first forced into their prison-house.

"Those Jews who were shut up in the Ghetto were placed in possession of the dwellings of others. The houses in that quarter were the property of Romans, and some of them were inhabited by families of consideration, such as the Boccapaduli. When these removed they remained the proprietors and the Jews only tenants. But as they were to live for ever in these streets, it was necessary that the Jews should have a perpetual lease to defend them against a twofold danger,—negligence on the part of the owner to announce to his Jewish tenant when his possession expired, or bankruptcy if the owner raised his rent. Thus originated a law which established that the Romans should remain in possession of the dwellings let to the Jews, but that the latter should hold the houses in fee farm; that is, the expiration of the contract cannot be announced to a Jewish tenant, and so long as he pays the lawful rent, the rent can never be raised; the Jew at the same time may alter or enlarge his house as he chooses. This still existing privilege is called the Jus Gazzaga. By virtue of it a Jew is in hereditary possession of the lease, and can sell it to his relations or others, and to the present day it is a costly fortune to be in possession of a Jus Gazzaga, or a hereditary lease. Highly extolled is the Jewish maiden who brings her bridegroom such a dowry. Through this salutary law the Jew became possessed of a home, which to some extent he may call his own."—Gregorovius.

The Jews were kindly treated by Sixtus V. on the plea that they were "the family from whom Christ came," and he allowed them to practise many kinds of trades, and to have intercourse with Christians, and to build houses, libraries, and synagogues, but his mild laws were all repealed by Clement VIII. (Aldobrandini, 1592—1605), and under Clement XI. and Innocent XIII. all trade was forbidden them, except that in old-clothes, rags, and iron, "stracci feracci." To these Benedict XIV. (Lambertini) added trade in drapery, with which they are still largely occupied. Under Gregory XIII. (Buoncompagni, 1572—85) the Jews were forced to hear a sermon every week in the church, first of S. Benedetto alla Regola, then in S. Angelo in Peschiera, and every Sabbath police-agents were sent into the Ghetto to drive men, women, and children into the church with scourges, and to lash them while there if they appeared to be inattentive.

"Now was come about Holy Cross Day, and now must my lord preach his first sermon to the Jews: as it was of old cared for in the merciful bowels of the Church, that, so to speak, a crumb at least from her conspicuous table here in Rome, should be, though but once yearly, cast to the famishing dogs, undertrampled and bespitten upon beneath the feet of the guests; and a moving sight in truth this, of so many of the besotted, blind, restive, and ready-to-perish Hebrews! now maternally brought—nay (for He saith, 'Compel them to come in'), haled, as it were, by the head and hair, and against their obstinate hearts, to partake of the heavenly grace...."—Diary by the Bishop's Secretary, 1600.

Though what the Jews really said, on thus being driven to church, was rather to this effect:—

IX.

"Groan all together now, whee-hee-hee!

It's a-work, it's a-work, ah, woe is me!

It began, when a herd of us, picked and placed,

Were spurred through the Corso, stripped to the waist;

Jew-brutes, with sweat and blood well spent

To usher in worthily Christian Lent.

X.

'It grew, when the hangman entered our bounds,

Yelled, pricked us out to his church like hounds.

It got to a pitch, when the hand indeed

Which gutted my purse, would throttle my creed.

And it overflows, when, to even the odd,

Men I helped to their sins, help me to their God."

R. B. Browning, Holy Cross Day.

This custom of compelling Jews to listen to Christian sermons was renewed by Leo XII., and was only abolished in the early years of Pius IX. The walls of the Ghetto also remained, and its gates were closed at night until the reign of the present pope, who removed the limits of the Ghetto, and revoked all the oppressive laws against the Jews. The humane feeling with which he regarded this hitherto oppressed race is said to have been first evinced,—when, on the occasion of his placing a liberal alms in the hand of a beggar, one of his attendants interposed, saying, "It is a Jew!" and the pope replied, "What does that matter, it is a man?"

"The present population of the Ghetto is estimated at 3800, a number out of all proportion, considering the small size of the Ghetto, which covers less space than the fifth part of any small town of 3000 inhabitants. The Jews are under the chief congregation of the Inquisition, and their especial magistrate for all civil and criminal processes is the Cardinal Vicar. The tribunal which governs them consists of the Cardinal Vicar, the Prelato Vicegerente, the Prelato Luogo-tenente Civile, and the Criminal Lieutenant. In police matters, the President of the Region of S. Angelo and Campitelli exercises the local police magistracy. The Jewish community has itself the right of regulating its internal order by the so-called Fattori del Ghetto, chosen every half-year. The common tribute of the Ghetto to the state, and to various religious bodies, amounts to about 13,000 francs."

Opposite the gate of the Ghetto near the Ponte Quattro Capi a converted Jew erected a church, which is still to be seen, with a painting of the Crucifixion on its outside wall (upon which every Jew must look as he comes out of the Ghetto), and underneath an inscription in large letters of Hebrew and Latin from Isaiah, lxv. 2:—"All day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people." The lower streets of the Ghetto, especially the Fiumara, which is nearest to the banks of the Tiber, are annually overflowed during the spring rains and melting of the mountain snows, which is productive of great misery and distress. Yet in spite of this, and of the teeming population crowded into its narrow alleys, the mortality was less here during the cholera than in any other part of Rome, and malaria is unknown here, a freedom from disease which may perhaps be attributed to the Jewish custom of whitewashing their dwellings at every festival. There is no Jewish hospital, and if the Jews go to an ordinary hospital, they must submit to a crucifix being hung over their beds. It is remarkable that the very centre of the Jewish settlement should be the Portico of Octavia, in which Vespasian and Titus celebrated their triumph after the fall of Jerusalem. Here and there in the narrow alleys the seven-branched candlestick may be seen carved on the house walls, a "yet living symbol of the Jewish religion."

Everything may be obtained in the Ghetto: precious stones, lace, furniture of all kinds, rich embroidery from Algiers and Constantinople, striped stuffs from Spain,—but all is concealed and under cover. "Cosa cercate," the Jew shopkeepers hiss at you as you thread their narrow alleys, and try to entice you into a bargain with them. The same article is often passed on by a mutual arrangement from shop to shop, and meets you wherever you go. On Friday evening all shops are shut, and bread is baked for the Sabbath, all merchandise is removed, and the men go to the synagogue, and wish each other "a good Sabbath," on their return.[96]

In the Piazza della Scuola are five schools under one roof—the Scuola del Tempio, Catilana, Castigliana, Siciliana, and the Scuola Nuova, "which show that the Roman Ghetto is divided into five districts or parishes, each of which represents a particular race, according to the prevailing nationality of the Jews, whose fathers have been either Roman-Jewish from ancient times, or have been brought hither from Spain and Sicily; the Temple-district is said above all others to assert its descent from the Jews of Titus." In the same piazza, is the chief synagogue, richly adorned with sculpture and gilding. On the external frieze are represented in stucco the seven-branched candlestick, David's harp, and Miriam's timbrel. The interior is highly picturesque and quaint, and is hung with curious tapestries on festas. The frieze which surrounds it represents the temple of Solomon with all its sacred vessels. A round window in the north wall, divided into twelve panes of coloured glass, is symbolical of the twelve tribes of Israel, and a type of the Urim and Thummim. "To the west is the round choir, a wooden desk for singers and precentors. Opposite, in the eastern wall, is the Holy of Holies, with projecting staves (as if for the carrying of the ark) resting on Corinthian columns. It is covered by a curtain, on which texts and various devices of roses and tasteful arabesques in the style of Solomon's temple are embroidered in gold. The seven-branched candlestick crowns the whole. In this Holy of Holies lies the sealed Pentateuch, a large parchment roll. This is borne in procession through the hall and exhibited from the desk towards all the points of the compass, whereat the Jews raise their arms and utter a cry."

"On entering the Ghetto, we see Israel before its tents, in full restless labour and activity. The people sit in their doorways, or outside in the streets, which receive hardly more light than the damp and gloomy chambers, and grub amid their old trumpery, or patch and sew diligently. It is inexpressible what a chaos of shreds and patches (called Cenci in Italian) is here accumulated. The whole world seems to be lying about in countless rags and scraps, as Jewish plunder. The fragments lie in heaps before the doors, they are of every kind and colour,—gold fringes, scraps of silk brocade, bits of velvet, red patches, blue patches, orange, yellow, black and white, torn, old, slashed and tattered pieces, large and small. I never saw such varied rubbish. The Jews might mend up all creation with it, and patch the whole world as gaily as harlequin's coat. There they sit and grub in their sea of rags, as though seeking for treasures, at least for a lost gold brocade. For they are as good antiquarians as any of those in Rome, who grovel amongst the ruins to bring to light the stump of a column, a fragment of a relief, an ancient inscription, a coin, or such matters. Each Hebrew Winckelmann in the Ghetto lays out his rags for sale with a certain pride, as does the dealer in marble fragments. The latter boasts a piece of giallo-antico, the Jew can match it with an excellent fragment of yellow silk; porphyry here is represented by a piece of dark red damask, verde-antico by a handsome patch of ancient green velvet. And there is neither jasper nor alabaster, black marble, or white, or parti-coloured, which the Ghetto antiquarian is not able to match. The history of every fashion from Herod the Great to the invention of paletôts, and of every mode of the highest as well as of the lower classes may be collected from these fragments, some of which are really historical, and may once have adorned the persons of Romulus, Scipio Africanus, Hannibal, Cornelia, Augustus, Charlemagne, Pericles, Cleopatra, Barbarossa, Gregory VII., Columbus, and so forth.

"Here sit the daughters of Zion on these heaps and sew all that is capable of being sewn. Great is their boasted skill in all work of mending, darning, and fine-drawing, and it is said that even the most formidable rent in any old drapery or garment whatsoever, becomes invisible under the hands of these Arachnes. It is chiefly in the Fiumara, the street lying lowest and nearest to the river, and in the street corners (one of which is called Argumille, i.e. of unleavened bread), that this business is carried on. I have often seen with a feeling of pain the pale, stooping, starving figures, laboriously plying the needle,—men as well as women, girls, and children. Misery stares forth from the tangled hair, and complains silently in the yellow-brown faces, and no beauty of feature recalls the countenance of Rachel, Leah, or Miriam,—only sometimes a glance from a deep-sunk, piercing black eye, that looks up from its needle and rags, and seems to say—'From the daughter of Zion, all her beauty is departed—she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary! She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies. Judah is gone into captivity, because of affliction, and because of great servitude; she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest; all her persecutors overtook her between the straits. How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger!"—Gregorovius, Wanderjahre.

The narrow street which is a continuation of the Pescheria, emerges upon the small square called Piazza della Giudecca. In the houses on the left may be seen some columns and part of an architrave, being the only visible remains of the Theatre of Balbus, erected by C. Cornelius Balbus, a general who triumphed in the time of Augustus, with the spoils taken from the Garamantes, a people of Africa. It was opened in the same year as the Theatre of Marcellus, and though very much smaller, was capable of containing as many as 11,600 spectators.

To the right, still partly on the site of the ancient theatre, and extending along one side of the Piazza delle Scuole, is the vast Palazzo Cenci, the ancient residence of the famous Cenci family (now represented by Count Cenci-Bolognetti), and the scene of many of the terrible crimes and tragedies which stain its annals.

"The Cenci Palace is of great extent: and, though in part modernized, there yet remains a vast and gloomy pile of feudal architecture in the same state as during the dreadful scenes which it once witnessed. The palace is situated in an obscure corner of Rome, near the quarter of the Jews, and from the upper windows you see the immense ruins of Mount Palatine, half hidden under the profuse undergrowth of trees. There is a court in one part of the palace supported by columns, and adorned with antique friezes of fine workmanship, and built up, after the Italian fashion, with balcony over balcony of open work. One of the gates of the palace, formed of immense stones, and leading through a passage dark and lofty, and opening into gloomy subterranean chambers, struck me particularly."—Shelley's Preface to "The Cenci."

Opposite the further entrance of the Palace, is the tiny Church of S. Tommaso del Cenci, founded 1113 by Cencio, bishop of Sabina; granted by Julius II. to Rocco Cenci;—and rebuilt in 1575 by the wicked Count Cenci.

"In 1585, Francesco Cenci was the head of the family, a man of passions so ungovernable and heart so depraved, that he hesitated at no species of crime. His first wife was a Princess Santa Croce, whom he is believed to have poisoned in order to marry the beautiful Lucrezia Petroni. His domestic cruelties to his children, especially to his three elder sons, Giacomo, Christoforo, and Rocco, were so terrible, that they petitioned the reigning Pope Clement VIII. to interfere in their behalf, but he abruptly dismissed them as rebels against the paternal authority; one daughter, Marguerita, alone escaped from her miserable home, being given in marriage by the pope to a Signor Gabrielli.

"The escape of this daughter made Francesco the more embittered against the remainder of his family. His youngest child, Beatrice, he immured in a solitary chamber, to which no one but himself was admitted, and where he constantly starved and beat her severely. When he received the news that his sons Christoforo and Rocco were assassinated in the neighbourhood of Rome by an unknown hand, he expressed the utmost joy, declaring that no money of his should purchase masses for the repose of their souls, and that he could have no peace until his wife and every child he had were in their graves.

"Lucrezia, believing that the monster whom she had espoused was possessed, in spite of his cruelty, by a criminal passion for his own daughter, attempted secretly to save her, by presenting a memorial to the pope imploring him to give her in marriage to a Signor Guerra, who had long been attached to her. But this petition was intercepted by Francesco, who then carried off Lucrezia and his two youngest children, Beatrice and Bernardo, to Petrella, a vast and desolate castle in the Apennines. Guerra, and Giacomo the eldest remaining brother of Beatrice, hired a band of banditti in the Sabine hills who were to attack the party on the way, and to carry off Francesco for a ransom, liberating the women;—but the rescue arrived too late.

"When they reached Petrella, Beatrice was incarcerated in a subterranean dungeon, where she was persuaded that her lover Guerra had been murdered, and was treated with such awful cruelty by her father, that, for a time, she was deprived of her reason. One day a servant, Marzio, whose betrothed had previously been seduced and murdered by Francesco, roused by the shrieks of Beatrice, burst into the room, and rushing upon his master dealt a terrible thrust with a dagger on his neck, exclaiming, 'I murder thee, assassin of thy own blood.' But Cenci arose uninjured, to the horror of Marzio, who imagined that only a demon could avert such a blow, and who was ignorant that he wore under his vestments, even in bed, a coat of mail which covered his entire body.

"At length Beatrice contrived to communicate with her brother Giacomo, who united with Guerra in hiring the services of Marzio and of Olympio, another servant, who was inspired with an equal thirst for vengeance upon Count Cenci. All felt that the death of Francesco was the only hope for his unhappy family. The assassins communicated with Lucrezia, who administered an opiate to her husband, and then stole from him some keys which enabled her after midnight to liberate Bernardo and Beatrice. The latter she found in a state of stupefaction, and vainly endeavoured to rouse her, signifying that the moment of escape had arrived. Beatrice showed no symptom of surprise at the announcement, or at the visit of her stepmother at that strange hour; she asked not how they had opened her door, or how her liberty had been acquired. When they were all assembled in the hall, Lucrezia told them the project, and asked their aid. Bernardo at first hesitated, but Lucrezia roused him by every argument she could urge and obtained his consent. Beatrice made no reply.

" ... Francesco Cenci was murdered in his sleep. Marzio placed a large nail or iron bolt on his right eye, which Olympio, with one blow of a hammer, drove straight into the brain. The deed thus accomplished, Marzio and Olympio wrapped the dead body in a sheet, and carried it to a small pavilion built at the end of a terrace-walk, overlooking an orchard. From this height they cast it down on an old gnarled elder-tree, in order that when the body should be found the next morning, it might appear that whilst walking on the terrace, the foot of the count had slipped, and that he had fallen head-foremost on one of the stunted branches of the tree, which, piercing through his eye to the brain, had caused his death. Returning to the hall, they received from Lucrezia a purse of gold; Marzio, carrying with him a valuable cloak trimmed with gold lace, turned towards Beatrice (who still stood leaning against the table), and saying, 'I shall keep this as a memorial of you,' departed with Olympio. The report of Francesco's death was not spread through the castle until the next morning. Lucrezia then rushed through the house uttering cries. In a day or two the funeral took place, and immediately after the family returned to Rome. Giacomo took possession of the Cenci palace, and Beatrice daily improved in health of body and mind.

"Soon, however, the suspicious circumstances of Count Cenci's death excited attention; the body was exhumed and examined, and the inhabitants of Petrella placed under arrest, when a washerwoman deposed to having received bloody sheets from one of the inhabitants of the castle—she thought from Beatrice—the day after the murder. On hearing this, the fear that he would turn against them, induced Signor Guerra to hire assassins to pursue Olympio, whom they despatched at Terni; but Marzio was arrested, and confessed the circumstances of the murder, though when confronted with Beatrice, he proclaimed her innocence of it, and declared her incapable of crime.

"Guerra made good his escape, but the whole Cenci family were thrown into prison and put to the torture. Giacomo, Bernardo, and Lucrezia, unable to endure the sufferings of the rack, confessed at once.

"Such, however, was not the case with the young and beautiful Beatrice. Full of spirit and courage, neither the persuasions nor threats of Moscati the judge could extort from her the smallest confession. She endured the torture of the cord with all the firmness which the purity of her heart inspired. The judge failed to extort from her lips a single word which could throw a shade over her innocence, and at length, believing it useless to pursue the torture further, he suspended the proceedings, and reported them to the pope. But Clement VIII, suspecting that the unwillingness of Moscati to believe Beatrice guilty was induced by her extreme beauty, only replied by consigning the prosecution to another judge, and Beatrice was left in the hands of Luciani, 'a man whose heart was a stranger to every feeling of humanity.' Upon her renewed protestations of innocence, he ordered the torture of the Vigilia.

"The torture of the Vigilia was as follows:—Upon a high joint-stool, the seat about a span large, and instead of being flat, cut in the form of pointed diamonds, the victim was seated: the legs were fastened together and without support; the hands bound behind the back, and with a running knot attached to a cord descending from the ceiling: the body was loosely attached to the back of the chair, cut also into angular points. A wretch stood near, pushing the victim from side to side, and now and then, by pulling the rope from the ceiling, gave the arms most painful jerks. In this horrible position the sufferer remained forty hours, the assistants being changed every fifth hour. At the expiration of this time, Beatrice was carried into the prison more dead than alive. The judge was annoyed at the account he received of the fortitude of Beatrice, and, in a rage, he exclaimed, 'Never shall it be said that a weak girl can escape from my hands, while not one of those condemned have been able to resist my power!'

"On the third day the examination was renewed, and Beatrice was condemned to the tortura capillorum. 'At a given signal, the satellites of the tribunal carried Beatrice under a rope suspended from the ceiling, and twisting into a cord her long and beautiful hair, they attached it, with diabolical art, to the rope, so that the whole body could by this means be raised from the ground. The frightful preparations over, and her protestations of innocence again disregarded, she was elevated from the ground by the hair of her head; at the same time was added another torture, consisting of a mesh of small cords twined about the fingers, twisting them nearly out of joint and dragging the hand almost from the bone of the arm. The wretched girl screamed with agony, while the judge stood by, commanding the suspended rope to be tightened, and raising the body by the hair from the ground gave it a sudden jerk, exhorting her to confess. She cried out in a convulsion for water, rolling her eyes in agony, and exclaiming, 'I am innocent.' The torture being repeated with still greater cruelty, and the fortitude of the young girl remaining unshaken, the judge, believing it impossible that a young female could resist such torments, concluded, with the superstition of the times, that she carried about with her some witchcraft; he ordered her to be examined, and finding no cause of suspicion, was about to have her hair cut off, when it was suggested the torment of the tortura capillorum could not then be renewed; her hair was again fastened to the rope, and for a whole hour she was subjected to such a succession of cruelties as the heart shrinks from narrating: but not a word escaped from her lips, that could compromise her innocence.

"In the mean time Lucrezia, Giacomo, and Bernardo were taken into the hall Erculeo, and in their presence a repetition of the torture was ordered, to so awful an extent, that she fainted and lay senseless. A new cruelty was devised—the taxilla,—her feet were bared, and to the soles was applied a block of heated wood, prepared in such a way as to retain the scorching heat; then did the unhappy girl utter piercing shrieks, and remained some minutes apparently dead. These accumulated tortures were repeated, until her relations, who were handcuffed lest they should render her any assistance, began to implore her with heart-rending tears and entreaties to yield. To this the judge mingled threats and the application of further torments, and enforced them with such rigour, that the victim shrieked in agony, and exclaimed, 'Oh! cease this martyrdom, and I will confess anything.'

"The tortures were at once suspended and restoratives applied, while her family on their knees implored Beatrice to adhere to her promise, urging that the unnatural cruelties of her father would be a just defence for the crime imputed to her, and that by agreeing to their deposition, she might give them a hope of common liberation. The unhappy girl replied, 'Be it as you wish. I am content to die if I can preserve you'—and to each interrogatory of the judge she replied, 'E vero,' until asked whether she did not urge the assassins to kill her father, and, on their refusal, propose to commit the crime herself, when she involuntarily exclaimed, 'Impossible, impossible! a tiger could not do it; how much less a daughter!' Threatened anew with the torture, she answered not, but, raising her eyes to Heaven, and moving her lips in prayer, she said, 'Oh my God, Thou knowest if this be true!' Thus did the judge force from Beatrice an assent to a deed at which her very nature revolted.

"Luciani hastened to the pope with the news that Beatrice had confessed. Clement VIII. was seized with one of those fits of anger to which he was subject, and exclaimed—'Let them all be immediately bound to the tails of wild horses, and dragged through the streets until life is extinct.' The horror evinced by all classes at this sentence induced him to grant a respite of twenty-five days, at the end of which a trial took place, and the advocate Farinacci boldly pleaded the defence of the prisoners. But while their fate was hanging in the balance, the Marchesa Santa-Croce was murdered by her own son, which caused Clement to order the immediate execution of the whole Cenci family, and the entreaties of their friends only induced him to spare the life of Bernardo, with the horrible proviso that he was to remain upon the scaffold and witness the execution of his relations.

" ... During the fearful and protracted transit to the scaffold, it was the custom of the satellites of the inquisition, at regular intervals, to tear from the body pieces of flesh with heated pincers, but in this instance the pope dispensed with this torture, but ordered that Giacomo should be beaten to death and then quartered. As the procession passed the piazza of the Palazzo Cenci, Giacomo, who had appeared resigned, became dreadfully agitated, and uttered heart-rending cries of, 'My children! my children!' The people shouted, 'Dogs, give him his children!' The procession was proceeding, when the multitude assumed such a threatening aspect, that two of the Compagnia dei Confortati thought themselves authorised to pause, the unhappy man imploring them in accents of despair, to suffer him once more to behold his children. The crowd became pacified on seeing Giacomo descend from the cart and conducted to the vestibule of his palace, where they brought to him his children and his wife. The latter fainted on the last step.

"The scene that followed was the most affecting and painful that the imagination can picture. His three children clung around his legs, uttering cries that rent the hearts of all present The unhappy man embraced them, telling them that in Bernardo they would find a father; then, fixing his eyes on his unconscious wife, he said, 'Let us go!' Reascending the cart, the procession stopped before the prison of the Corte Savella.

"Here Beatrice and Lucrezia appeared before the gates, conducted by the Confortati. They knelt down and prayed for some time before the crucifix, and then walked on foot behind the carriage. Lucrezia wore a robe of black, and a long black veil covered her head and shoulders; Beatrice in a dark robe and veil, a handkerchief of cloth of silver on her head, and slippers of white velvet, ornamented with crimson sandals and rosettes, followed.... Twice during the passage, an attempt was made to rescue Beatrice, but each failed, and she reached the chapel, where all the condemned were to receive the blessing of the Sacrament before execution.

"The first brought out to ascend the scaffold was Bernardo, who, according to the conditions of his reprieve, was to witness the death of his relatives. The poor boy, before he had reached the summit, fell down in a swoon, and was obliged to be supported to his seat of torture. Preceded by the standard and the brethren of the Misericordia, the executioner next entered the chapel to convey Lucrezia. Binding her hands behind her back, and removing the veil that covered her head and shoulders, he led her to the foot of the scaffold. Here she stopped, prayed devoutly, kissed the crucifix, and taking off her shoes, mounted the ladder barefoot. From confusion and terror, she with difficulty ascended, crying out, 'Oh, my God! oh, holy brethren, pray for my soul, oh, God, pardon me!' The principal executioner beckoned to her to place herself on the block; the unhappy woman, from her unwieldy figure, being unable to do so, some violence was used, the executioner raised his axe, and with one stroke severed the head from the body! Catching it by the hair, he exposed it, still quivering, to the gaze of the populace; then wrapping it in the veil, he laid it on a bier in the corner of the scaffold, the body falling into a coffin placed underneath. The violence used towards the sufferer had so excited the multitude, that a universal uproar commenced. Forty young men rushed forward to the chapel to rescue Beatrice, but were again defeated, after a short struggle....

"Meanwhile Beatrice, kneeling in the chapel absorbed in prayer, heeded not the uproar that surrounded her. She rose, as the standard appeared to precede her to the block, and with eagerness demanded, 'Is my mother then really dead?'—Answered in the affirmative, she prayed with fervour; then raising her voice, she said, 'Lord, thou hast called me, and I obey the summons willingly, as I hope for mercy!' Approaching her brother, she bade him farewell, and with a smile of love, said, 'Grieve not for me. We shall be happy in heaven, I have forgiven thee.' Giacomo fainted; his sister, turning round, said, 'Let us proceed!' The executioner appeared with a cord, but seemed afraid to fasten it round her body. She saw this, and with a sad smile said, 'Bind this body; but hasten to release the soul, which pants for immortality!'

"Scarcely had the victim arrived at the foot of the scaffold, when the square, filled with that vast multitude before so uproarious, suddenly assumed the silence of a desert. Each one bent forward to hear her speak; with every eye riveted on her, and lips apart, it seemed as if their very existence depended on any words she might utter. Beatrice ascended the stairs with a slow but firm step. In a moment she placed herself on the block, which had caused so much fear to Lucrezia. She did not allow the executioner to remove the veil, but laid it herself upon the table. In this dreadful situation she remained a few minutes, a universal cry of horror staying the arm of the executioner. But soon the head of his victim was held up separated from the trunk, which was violently agitated for a few seconds. The miserable Bernardo Cenci, forced to witness the fate of his sister, again swooned away; nor could he be restored to his senses for more than half an hour.

"Meanwhile the scaffold was made ready for the dreadful punishment destined for Giacomo. Having performed some religious ceremonies, he appeared dressed in a cloak and cap. Turning towards the people, he said in a clear voice, 'Although in the agonies of torture I accused my sister and brother of sharing in the crime for which I suffer, I accused them falsely. Now that I am about to render an account of my actions to God, I solemnly assert their entire innocence. Farewell, my friends. Oh, pray to God for me.'

"Saying these words, he knelt down; the executioner bound his legs to the block and bandaged his eyes. To particularise the details of this execution would be too dreadful; suffice it to say, he was beaten, beheaded, and quartered in the sight of that vast multitude, and by the side of a brother, who was sprinkled with his blood. All was now over.

"..... Near the statue of St. Paul, according to custom, were placed three biers, each with four lighted torches. In these were laid the bodies of the victims. A crown of flowers had been placed around the head of Beatrice, who seemed as though in sleep, so calm, so peaceful was that placid face, while a smile such as she wore in life still hovered on her lips. Many a tear was shed over that bier, many a flower was scattered around her, whose fate all mourned—whose innocence none questioned.

"On that night the bodies were interred. The corpse of Beatrice, clad in the dress she wore on the scaffold, was borne, covered with garlands of flowers, to the church of San Pietro in Montorio; and buried at the foot of the high altar, before Raffaelle's celebrated picture of the Transfiguration."[97]

Retracing our steps to the Piazza della Giudecca and turning left down a narrow alley, which is always busy with Jewish traffic, we reach the Piazza delle Tartarughe, so called from the tortoises which form part of the adornments of its lovely little fountain,—designed by Giacomo della Porta, the four figures of boys being by Taddeo Landini.

At this point we leave the Ghetto.

Forming one side of the Piazza delle Tartarughe is the Palazzo Costaguti, celebrated for its six splendid ceilings by great artists, viz.:—

1.

Albani: Hercules wounding the Centaur Nessus.

2.

Domenichino: Apollo in his car, Time discovering truth, &c., much injured.

3.

Guercino: Rinaldo and Armida in a chariot drawn by dragons.

4.

Cav. d'Arpino: Juno nursing Hercules, Venus and Cupids.

5.

Lanfranco: Justice and Peace.

6.

Romanelli: Arion saved by the dolphin.

In a corner of the piazza, is a well-known Lace-Shop, much frequented by English ladies, but great powers of bargaining are called for. Almost immediately behind this is one of the most picturesque mediæval courtyards in the city.

On the same line, at the end of the street, is the Palazzo Mattei, built by Carlo Maderno (1615) for Duke Asdrubal Mattei, on the site of the Circus of Flaminius. The small courtyard of this palace is well worth examining, and is one of the handsomest in Rome, being quite encrusted, as well as the staircase, with ancient bas-reliefs, busts, and other sculptures. It contained a gallery of pictures, the greater part of which have been dispersed. The rooms have frescoes by Pomerancio, Lanfranco, Pietro da Cortona, Domenichino, and Albani.

Behind this, facing the Via delle Botteghe Oscure, is the vast Palazzo Caëtani, now inhabited by the learned Don Michael-Angelo Caëtani (Duke of Sermoneta and Prince of Teano), whose family is one of the most distinguished in the mediæval history of Rome, and which gave Boniface VIII. to the church:

"Lo principe de' nuovi farisei."

Dante, Inferno, xxvii.

It claims descent from Anatolius, created Count of Gaieta by Pope Gregory II. in 730.

Close to the Palazzo Mattei is the Church of Sta. Caterina de' Funari, built by Giacomo della Porta, in 1563, adjoining a convent of Augustinian nuns. The streets in this quarter are interesting as bearing witness in their names to the existence of the Circus Flaminius, the especial circus of the plebs, which once occupied all the ground near this. The Via delle Botteghe Oscure, commemorates the dark shops which in mediæval times occupied the lower part of the circus, as they do now that of the Theatre of Marcellus. The Via dei Funari, the ropemakers who took advantage for their work of the light and open space which the interior of the deserted circus afforded. The remains of the circus existed to the sixteenth century.

Near this, turning right, is the Piazza di Campitelli, which contains the Church of S. Maria in Campitelli, built by Rinaldi for Alexander VII. in 1659, upon the site of an oratory erected by Sta. Galla in the time of John I. (523-6), in honour of an image of the Virgin, which one day miraculously appeared imploring her charity, in company with the twelve poor women to whom she was daily in the habit of giving alms. The oratory of Sta. Galla was called Sta. Maria in Portico, from the neighbouring portico of Octavia, a name which is sometimes applied to the present church. The miraculous mendicant image is now enshrined in gold and lapis-lazuli over the high altar. Other relics supposed to be preserved here are the bodies of Sta. Cyrica, Sta. Victoria, and Sta. Vincenza, and half that of Sta. Barbara! The second chapel on the right has a picture of the Descent of the Holy Ghost by Luca Giordano; in the first chapel on the left is the tomb of Prince Altieri, inscribed "Umbra," and that of his wife, Donna Laura di Carpegna, inscribed "Nihil;" they rest on lions of rosso-antico. In the right transept is the tomb, by Pettrich, of Cardinal Pacca, who lived in the Palazzo Pacca, on the opposite side of the square, and was the faithful friend of Pius VII. in his exile. The bas-relief on the tomb, of St. Peter delivered by the angel, is in allusion to the deliverance from the French captivity.

The name Campitelli is probably derived from Campusteli, because in this neighbourhood (see Ch. XIV.) was the Columna Bellica, from which when war was declared a dart was thrown into a plot of ground, representing the hostile territory,—perhaps the very site of this church.

In the street behind this, leading into the Via di Ara Cœli, are the remains of the ancient Palazzo Margana, with a very richly-sculptured gateway of c. 1350.

Opening from hence upon the left is the Via Tor de' Specchi, whose name commemorates the legend of Virgil as a necromancer, and of his magic tower lined with mirrors, in which all the secrets of the city were reflected and brought to light.

Here is the famous Convent of the Tor de' Specchi, founded by Sta. Francesca Romana, and open to the public during the octave of the anniversary of her death (following the 9th of March). At this time the pavements are strewn with box, the halls and galleries are bright with fresh flowers, and Swiss guards are posted at the different turnings, to facilitate the circulation of visitors. It is a beautiful specimen of a Roman convent. The first hall is painted with ancient frescoes, representing scenes in the life of the saint. Here, on a table, is the large bowl in which Sta. Francesca prepared ointment for the poor. Other relics are her veil, shoes, &c. Passing a number of open cloisters, cheerful with flowers and orange-trees, we reach the chapel, where sermons or rather lectures are delivered at the anniversary upon the story of Sta. Francesca's life, and where her embalmed body may be seen beneath the altar. A staircase seldom seen, but especially used by Francesca, is only ascended by the nuns upon their knees. It leads to her cell and a small chapel, black with age, and preserved as when she used them. The picturesque dress of the Oblate sisters who are everywhere visible, adds to the interest of the scene.

"It is no gloomy abode, the Convent of the Tor di Specchi, even in the eyes of those who cannot understand the happiness of a nun. It is such a place as one loves to see children in; where religion is combined with everything that pleases the eye and recreates the mind. The beautiful chapel; the garden with its magnificent orange-trees; the open galleries, with their fanciful decorations and scenic recesses, where a holy picture or figure takes you by surprise, and meets you at every turn; the light airy rooms, where religious prints and ornaments, with flowers, birds, and ingenious toys, testify that innocent enjoyments are encouraged and smiled upon; while from every window may be caught a glimpse of the Eternal City, a spire, a ruined wall,—something that speaks of Rome and its thousand charms.

"It was on the 21st of March, the festival of St. Benedict, that Francesca herself entered the convent, not as the foundress, but as a humble suppliant for admission. At the foot of the stairs, having taken off her customary black gown, her veil, and her shoes, and placed a cord around her neck, she knelt down, kissed the ground, and, shedding an abundance of tears, made her general confession aloud in the presence of all the Oblates; she described herself as a miserable sinner, a grievous offender against God, and asked permission to dwell amongst them as the meanest of their servants; and to learn from them to amend her life, and enter upon a holier course. The spiritual daughters of Francesca hastened to raise and embrace her; and clothing her with their habit, they led the way to the chapel, where they all returned thanks to God. While she remained there in prayer, Agnese de Lellis, the superioress, assembled the sisters in the chapter-room, and declared to them, that now their true mother and foundress had come amongst them, it would be absurd for her to remain in her present office; that Francesca was their guide, their head, and that into her hands she should instantly resign her authority. They all applauded her decision, and gathering around the Saint, announced to her their wishes. As was to be expected, Francesca strenuously refused to accede to this proposal, and pleaded her inability for the duties of a superioress. The Oblates had recourse to Don Giovanni, the confessor of Francesca, who began by entreating, and finally commanded her acceptance of the charge. His order she never resisted; and accordingly, on the 25th of March, she was duly elected to that office."—Lady Georgina Fullerton's Life of Sta. Francesca Romana.

"Sta. Francesca Romana is represented in the dress of a Benedictine nun, a black robe and a white hood or veil; and her proper attribute is an angel, who holds in his hand the book of the Office of the Virgin, open at the words, 'Tenuisti manum dexteram meam, et in voluntate tua deduxisti me, et cum gloria suscepisti me' (Ps. lxxiii. 23, 24); which attribute is derived from an incident thus narrated in the acts of her canonisation. Though unwearied in her devotions, yet if, during her prayers, she was called away by her husband on any domestic duty, she would close her book, saying that 'a wife and a mother, when called upon, must quit her God at the altar, and find him in her household affairs.' Now it happened once, that, in reciting the Office of Our Lady, she was called away four times just as she was beginning the same verse, and, returning the fifth time, she found that verse written upon the page in letters of golden light by the hand of her guardian angel."—Jameson's Sacred Art, p. 151.

Almost opposite the convent is the Via del Monte Tarpeio, a narrow alley, leading up to the foot of the Tarpeian rock, beneath the Palazzo Caffarelli, and one of the points at which the rock is best seen. This spot is believed to have been the site of the house of Spurius Mælius, who tried to ingratiate himself with the people, by buying up corn and distributing it in a year of scarcity (B.C. 440), but who was in consequence put to death by the patricians. His house was razed to the ground, and its site, being always kept vacant, went by the name of Æquimælium.[98]

CHAPTER VI.

THE PALATINE.

The Story of the Hill—Orti Farnesiani—The Via Nova—Roma Quadrata—The Houses of the early Kings—Temple of Jupiter Stator—Palace of Augustus—Palace of Vespasian—Crypto-Porticus—Temple of Jupiter-Victor—The Lupercal and the Hut of Faustulus—Palace of Tiberius—Palace of Caligula—Clivus Victoriæ—Ruins of the Kingly Period—Altar of the Genius Loci—House of Hortensius—Septizonium of Severus—Palace of Domitian.

"THE Palatine formed a trapezium of solid rock, two sides of which were about 300 yards in length, the others about 400: the area of its summit, to compare it with a familiar object, was nearly equal to the space between Pall-Mall and Piccadilly in London."[99]

The history of the Palatine is the history of the City of Rome. Here was the Roma Quadrata, the "oppidum," or fortress of the Pelasgi, of which the only remaining trace is the name Roma, signifying force. This is the fortress where the shepherd-king Evander is represented by Virgil as welcoming Æneas.

The Pelasgic fortress was enclosed by Romulus within the limits of this new city, which, "after the Etruscan fashion, he traced round the foot of the hill with a plough drawn by a bull and a heifer, the furrow being carefully made to fall inwards, and the heifer yoked to the near-side, to signify that strength and courage were required without, obedience and fertility within the city.... The locality thus enclosed was reserved for the temples of the gods and the residence of the ruling class, the class of patricians or burghers, as Niebuhr has taught us to entitle them, which predominated over the dependent commons, and only suffered them to crouch for security under the walls of Romulus. The Palatine was never occupied by the plebs. In the last age of the republic, long after the removal of this partition, or of the civil distinction between the great classes of the state, here was still the chosen site of the mansions of the highest nobility."[100]

In the time of the early kings the City of Rome was represented by the Palatine only. It was at first divided into two parts, one inhabited, and the other called Velia, and left for the grazing of cattle. It had two gates, the Porta Romana to the north, and the Porta Mugonia—so called from the lowing of the cattle—to the south, on the side of the Velia.

Augustus was born on the Palatine, and dwelt there in common with other patrician citizens in his youth. After he became emperor he still lived there, but simply, and in the house of Hortensius, till, on its destruction by fire, the people of Rome insisted upon building him a palace more worthy of their ruler. This building was the foundation-stone of "the Palace of the Cæsars," which in time overran the whole hill, and, under Nero, two of the neighbouring hills besides, and whose ruins are daily being disinterred and recognised, though much confusion still remains regarding their respective sites. In A.D. 663, part of the palace remained sufficiently perfect to be inhabited by the Emperor Constans, and its plan is believed to have been entire for a century after, but it never really recovered its sack by Genseric in A.D. 455, in which it was completely gutted, even of the commonest furniture; and as years passed on it became imbedded in the soil which has so marvellously enshrouded all the ancient buildings of Rome, so that till within the last ten years, only a few broken nameless walls were visible above ground.

"Cypress and ivy, weed and wallflower grown

Matted and mass'd together, hillocks heap'd

On what were chambers, arch crush'd, columns strown

In fragments, choked-up vaults, and frescoes steep'd

In subterranean damps, where the owl peep'd,

Deeming it midnight:—Temples, baths, or halls?

Pronounce who can; for all that Learning reap'd

From her research has been, that these are walls.—

Behold the Imperial Mount! 'Tis thus the mighty falls."

Byron, Childe Harold.

How different is this description to that of Claudian (de Sexto Consulat. Honorii).

"The Palatine, proud Rome's imperial seat,

(An awful pile) stands venerably great:

Thither the kingdoms and the nations come,

In supplicating crowds to learn their doom:

To Delphi less th' inquiring worlds repair,

Nor does a greater god inhabit there:

This sure the pompous mansion was design'd

To please the mighty rulers of mankind;

Inferior temples rise on either hand,

And on the borders of the palace stand,

While o'er the rest her head she proudly rears,

And lodged amidst her guardian gods appears."

Addison's Translation.

After the middle of the sixteenth century a great part of the Palatine became the property of the Farnese family, latterly represented by the Neapolitan Bourbons, who sold the "Orti Farnesiani," in 1861, to the Emperor Napoleon III., for £10,000. Up to that time this part of the Palatine was a vast kitchen-garden, broken here and there by picturesque groups of ilex trees and fragments of mouldering wall. In one corner was a casino of the Farnese (still standing) adorned in fresco by some of the pupils of Raphael. This and all the later buildings in the "Orti," are marked with the Farnese fleur-de-lis, and on the principal staircase of the garden is some really grand distemper ornament of their time. Since 1861 extensive excavations have been carried on here under the superintendence of Signor Rosa, which have resulted in the discovery of the palaces of some of the earlier emperors, and the substructions of several temples. After the revolution of 1870 the French portion of the Palatine was sold by the Ex-Emperor Napoleon to the Roman municipal government.

In visiting the Palace of the Cæsars, it will naturally be asked how it is known that the different buildings are what they are described to be. In a great measure this has been ascertained from the descriptions of Tacitus and other historians,—but the greatest assistance of all has been obtained from the Tristia of Ovid, who, while in exile, consoles himself by recalling the different buildings of his native city, which he mentions in describing the route taken by his book, which he had persuaded a friend to convey to the imperial library. He supposes the book to enter the Palatine by the Clivus Victoriæ behind the Temple of Vesta, and follows its course, remarking the different objects it passed on the right or the left.

If we enter the palace by the Farnese gateway, on the right of the Campo-Vaccino, opposite SS. Cosmo e Damiano, we had better only ascend the first division of the staircase and then turn to the left. Passing along the lower ridge of the Palatine, afterwards occupied by many of the great patrician houses, whose sites we shall return to and examine in detail, we reach that corner of the garden which is nearest to the Arch of Titus. Here a paved road of large blocks of lava has lately been laid bare, and is identified beyond a doubt as part of the Via Nova, which led from the Porta Mugonia of the Palatine along the base of the hill to the Velabrum. In the reign of Augustus it appears to have been made to communicate also with the Forum.

"Qua Nova Romano nunc Via juncta Foro est."

Ovid, Fast. vi. 396.

At this point the road was called Summa Via Nova.

Near this spot must have been the site of the house where Octavius lived with his wife Afra, the niece of Julius Cæsar (daughter of his eldest sister Julia), and where their son, Octavius, afterwards the Emperor Augustus, was born. This house afterwards passed into the possession of C. Lætorius, a patrician; but after the death of Augustus, part of it was turned into a chapel, and consecrated to him. It was situated at the top of a staircase—"supra scalas annularias"[101]—which probably led to the Forum, and is spoken of as "ad capita bubula," perhaps from bulls' heads, with which it may have been decorated.

Here we find ourselves, owing to the excavations, in a deep hollow between the two divisions of the hill. On the left is the Velia, upon which, near the Porta Mugonia, the Sabine king, Ancus Martius, had his palace. When Ancus died, he was succeeded by an Etruscan stranger, Lucius Tarquinius, who took the name of Tarquinius Priscus. This king also lived upon the Velia,[102] with Tanaquil his queen, and here he was murdered in a popular rising, caused by the sons of his predecessor. Here his brave wife Tanaquil closed the doors, concealed the death of the king, harangued the people from the windows,[103] and so gained time till Servius Tullius was prepared to take the dead king's place and avenge his murder.[104]

Keeping to the valley, on our right are now some huge blocks of tufa, of great interest as part of the ancient Roma Quadrata, anterior to Romulus. Beyond this, also on the right, are foundations of the Temple of Jupiter Stator, built by Romulus, who vowed that he would found a temple to Jupiter under that name, if he would arrest the flight of his Roman followers in their conflict with the superior forces of the Sabines.[105]

"Inde petens dextram, porta est, ait, ista Palati;

Hic Stator, hoc primum condita Roma loco est."

Ovid, Trist. iii. El. I.

"Tempus idem Stator ædis habet, quam Romulus olim

Ante Palatini condidit ora jugi."

Ovid, Fast. vi. 793.

The temple of Jupiter Stator has an especial interest from its connection with the story of Cicero and Catiline.

"Cicéron rassembla le sénat dans le temple de Jupiter Stator. Le choix du lieu s'explique facilement; ce temple était près de la principale entrée du Palatin sur le Vélia, dominant, en cas d'émeute, le Forum, que Cicéron et les principaux sénateurs habitants du Palatin n'avaient pas à traverser comme s'il eût fallu se rendre à la Curie. D'ailleurs Jupiter Stator, qui avait arrêté les Sabines à la porte de Romulus, arrêterait ces nouveaux ennemis qui voulaient sa ruine. Là Cicéron prononça la première Catilinaire. Ce discours dut être en grande partie improvisé, car les événements aussi improvisaient. Cicéron ne savait si Catilina oserait se présenter devant le sénat; en le voyant entrer, il conçut son fameux exorde: 'Jusqu'à quand, Catilina, abuseras-tu de notre patience!'

"Malgré la garde volontaire de chevaliers qui avait accompagné Cicéron et qui se tenait à la porte du temple, Catilina y entra et salua tranquillement l'assemblée; nul ne lui rendit son salut, à son approche on s'écarta et les places restèrent vides autour de lui. Il écouta les foudroyantes apostrophes de Cicéron, qui, après l'avoir accablé des preuves de son crime, se bornait à lui dire: 'Sors de Rome. Va-t-en!'

"Catilina se leva et d'un air modeste pria le sénat de ne pas croire le consul avant qu'une enquête eût été faite. 'II n'est pas vraisemblable, ajouta-t-il, avec une hauteur toute aristocratique, qu'un patricien, lequel, aussi bien que ses ancêtres, a rendu quelques services à la république, ne puisse exister que par sa ruine, et qu'on ait besoin d'un étranger d'Arpinum pour la sauver.' Tant d'orgueil et d'impudence révoltèrent l'assemblée; on cria à Catilina: 'Tu es un ennemi de la patrie, un meurtrier.' Il sortit, réunit encore ses amis, leur recommanda de se débarasser de Cicéron, prit avec lui un aigle d'argent qui avait appartenu à une légion de Marius, et à minuit quitta Rome et partit par la voie Aurélia pour aller rejoindre son armée."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iv. 445.

Nearly opposite the foundations of Jupiter Stator, on the left,—are some remains considered to be those of the Porta Palatii.

The valley is now blocked by a vast mass of building which entirely closes it. This is the palace of Augustus, built in the valley between the Velia and the other eminence of the Palatine, which Rosa, contrary to other opinions, identifies with the Germale. The division of the Palatine thus named, was reckoned as one of "the seven hills" of ancient Rome. Its name was thought to be derived from Germani, owing to Romulus and Remus being found in its vicinity.[106]

The Palace of Augustus was begun soon after the battle of Actium, and gradually increased in size, till the whole valley was blocked up by it, and its roofs became level with the hill-sides. Part of the ground which it covered had previously been occupied by the villa of Catiline.[107] Here Suetonius says that Augustus occupied the same bed-room for forty years. Before the entrance of the palace it was ordained by the Senate, B.C. 26, that two bay-trees should be planted, in remembrance of the citizens he had preserved, while an oak wreath was placed above the gate in commemoration of his victories.

"Singula dum miror, video fulgentibus armis

Conspicuos postes, tectaque digna deo.

An Jovis hæc, dixi, domus est? Quod ut esse putarem,

Augurium menti querna corona dabat.

Cujus ut accepi dominum, non fallimur, inquam:

Et magni rerum est hanc Jovis esse domum.

Cur tamen apposita velatur janua lauro?

Cingit et Augustas arbor opaca fores?"

Ovid, Trist. i. 33.

"State Palatinæ laurus; prætextaque quercu

Stet domus; æternos tres habet una deos."

Fast. iv. 953.

It was before the gate of this palace that Augustus upon one day in every year sate as a beggar, receiving alms from the passers-by, in obedience to a vision that he should thus appease Nemesis.

Upon the top of this building of Augustus, Vespasian built his palace in A.D. 70, not only using the walls of the older palace as a support for his own, but filling the chambers of the earlier building entirely up with earth, so that they became a solid massive foundation. The ruins which we visit are thus for the most part those of the palace of Vespasian, but from one of its halls we can descend into rooms underneath excavated from the palace of Augustus. The three projecting rostra which we now see in front of the palace are restorations by Signor Rosa.

The palace on the Palatine was not the place where the emperors generally lived. They resided at their villas, and came into the town to the Palace of the Cæsars for the transaction of public business. Thus this palace was, as it were, the St. James's of Rome. The fatigue and annoyance of a public arrival every morning, amid the crowd of clients who always waited upon the imperial footsteps, was naturally very great, and to obviate this the emperors made use of a subterranean passage which ran round the whole building, and by which they were enabled to arrive unobserved, and not to present themselves in public till their appearance upon the rostra in front of the building to receive the morning salutations of their people.

If we ascend a winding path to the right, to the garden which now covers the greater part of the hill Germale, we shall find a staircase which descends on the left to join this passage, following which, we will ascend, with the emperor, into his palace.

The passage, called Crypto-Porticus, is still quite perfect, and retains a great part of its mosaic pavements and much of its inlaid ceilings, from which the gilt mosaic has been picked out, but the pattern is still traceable. The passage was lighted from above. It was by this route that St. Laurence was led up for trial in the basilica, of the palace. Turning to the left, we again emerge upon the upper level.

The emperor here reached the palace, but as he did not yet wish to appear in public, he turned to the left by the private passage called Fauces, which still remains, running behind the main halls of the building. Here he was received by the different members of the imperial family, much as Napoleon III. was received by Princesses Mathilde, Clotilde, and the Murats, in a private apartment at the Tuileries, before entering the ball-room. Hence, passing across the end of the basilica, the emperor reached the portico in front of the palace, looking down upon the hollow space where were the Temple of Jupiter Stator and the other buildings connected with the early history of the Roman state. Here the whole Court received him and escorted him to the central rostra, where he had his public reception from the people assembled below, and whence perhaps he addressed to them a few words of morning salutation in return. The attendants meanwhile defiled on either side to the lower terraced elevation, which still remains.

This ceremony being gone through, the emperor returned as he came, to the basilica, for the transaction of business.

The name Basilica means "King's House." It was the ancient Law Court. It usually had a portico, was oblong in form, and ended in an apse for ornament. The Christians adopted it for their places of worship because it was the largest type of building then known. They also adopted the names of the different parts of the pagan basilica, as the Confessional, from the Confession, the bar of justice at which the criminal was placed,—the Tribune, from the Tribunal of the Judge, &c. A chapel and sacristy added on either side produced the form of the cross. The Basilica here is of great width. A leg of the emperor's chair actually remains in situ upon the tribunal, and part of the richly wrought bar of the Confession still exists. This was the bar at which St. Laurence and many other Christian martyrs were judged. The basilica in the palace of the Cæsars was also the scene of the trial of Valerius Asiaticus in the time of Claudius (see Chap. II.), when the Empress Messalina, who was seated near the emperor upon the tribunal, was so overcome by the touching eloquence of the innocent man, that she was obliged to leave the hall to conceal her emotion,—but characteristically whispered as she went out, that the accused must nevertheless on no account be suffered to escape with his life,[108]—that she might take possession of his Pincian Garden, which was as Naboth's Vineyard in her eyes. An account is extant which describes how it was necessary to increase the width of the seat upon the tribunal at this period, in consequence of a change in the fashion of dress among the Roman ladies.

This basilica, though perhaps not then itself in existence, will always have peculiar interest as showing the form and character of that earlier basilica in the Palace of the Cæsars, in which St. Paul was tried before Nero. But it is quite possible that it may be the same actual basilica itself,—and that the palace of Nero which overran the whole of the hill, may have had its basilica on this site, where it was preserved by Vespasian in his later and more contracted palace.

"The appeals from the provinces in civil causes were heard, not by the emperor himself, but by his delegates, who were persons of consular rank: Augustus had appointed one such delegate to hear appeals from each province respectively. But criminal appeals appear generally to have been heard by the emperor in person, assisted by his council of assessors. Tiberius and Claudius had usually sat for this purpose in the Forum; but Nero, after the example of Augustus, heard these causes in the imperial palace, whose ruins still crown the Palatine. Here, at one end of a splendid hall,[109] lined with the precious marbles of Egypt and of Libya, we must imagine Cæsar seated in the midst of his assessors. These councillors, twenty in number, were men of the highest rank and greatest influence. Among them were the two consuls and selected representatives of each of the other great magistracies of Rome. The remainder consisted of senators chosen by lot. Over this distinguished bench of judges presided the representatives of the most powerful monarchy which has ever existed,—the absolute ruler of the whole civilised world.

"Before the tribunal of the blood-stained adulterer Nero, Paul was brought in fetters, under the custody of his military guard. The prosecutors and their witnesses were called forward, to support their accusation; for although the subject-matter for decision was contained in the written depositions forwarded from Judæa by Festus, yet the Roman law required the personal presence of the accusers and the witnesses, whenever it could be obtained. We already know the charges brought against the Apostle. He was accused of disturbing the Jews in the exercise of their worship, which was secured to them by law; of desecrating their Temple; and, above all, of violating the public peace of the empire by perpetual agitation, as the ringleader of a new and factious sect. This charge was the most serious in the view of a Roman statesman; for the crime alleged amounted to majestas, or treason against the commonwealth, and was punishable with death.

"These accusations were supported by the emissaries of the Sanhedrim, and probably by the testimony of witnesses from Judæa, Ephesus, Corinth, and the other scenes of Paul's activity.... When the parties on both sides had been heard, and the witnesses all examined, the judgment of the court was taken. Each of the assessors gave his opinion in writing to the emperor, who never discussed the judgment with his assessors, as had been the practice of better emperors, but after reading their opinion, gave sentence according to his own pleasure, without reference to the judgment of the majority. On this occasion it might have been expected that he would have pronounced the condemnation of the accused, for the influence of Poppæa had now reached its culminating point, and she was a Jewish proselyte. We can scarcely doubt that the emissaries from Palestine would have demanded her aid for the destruction of a traitor to the Jewish faith; nor would any scruples have prevented her listening to their request, backed as it probably was, according to Roman usage, by a bribe. However this may be, the trial resulted in the acquittal of St. Paul. He was pronounced guiltless of the charges brought against him, his fetters were struck off, and he was liberated from his long captivity."—Conybeare and Howson.

Beyond the basilica is the Tablinum, the great hall of the palace, which served as a kind of commemorative domestic museum, where family statues and pictures were preserved. This vast room was lighted from above, on the plan which may still be seen at Sta. Maria degli Angeli, which was in fact a great hall of a Roman house. The roof of this hall was one vast arch, unsupported except by the side walls. We have record of a period when these walls were supposed insufficient for the great weight, and had to be strengthened, in interesting confirmation of which we can still see how the second wall was added and united to the first.

Appropriately opening from the family picture gallery of the Tablinum, was the Lararium, a private chapel for the worship of such members of the family—Livia and many others—as were deified after death. An altar, on the original site, has been erected here by Signor Rosa, from bits which have been found.

Hitherto the chambers which we have visited were open to the public; beyond this, none but his immediate family and attendants could follow the emperor. We now enter the Peristyle, a courtyard, which was open to the sky, but surrounded with arcades ornamented with statues, where we may imagine that the empresses amused themselves with their birds and flowers. Hence, by a narrow staircase, we can descend into what is perhaps the most interesting portion of the whole, the one unearthed fragment of the actual Palace of Augustus, which still retains remains of gilding and fresco, and an artistic group in stucco. An original window remains, and it will be recollected on looking at it, that when this was built it was not subterranean, but merely in the hollow of the valley, afterwards filled up. In these actual rooms may have lived Livia, who in turn inhabited three houses on the Palatine, first that of her first husband Nero Drusus, whom Augustus compelled her to divorce; then the imperial house of Augustus; and lastly that of Tiberius, the son by her first husband, whom she was the means of raising to the throne.

We now reach the Triclinium or dining-room, surrounded by a skirting of pavonazzetto with a cornice of giallo. Tacitus describes a scene in the imperial triclinium, in which the Emperor Tiberius is represented as reclining at dinner, having on one side his aged mother, the Empress Livia, and on the other his niece Agrippina, widow of Germanicus and granddaughter of the great Augustus.[110] It was while the imperial family were seated at a banquet in the triclinium, in the time of Nero, that his young step-brother Britannicus (son of Claudius and Messalina) swallowed the cup of poison which the emperor had caused Locusta to prepare and sank back dead upon his couch, his wretched sisters Antonia and Octavia, also seated at the ghastly feast, not daring to give expression to their grief and horror,—and Nero merely desiring the attendants to carry the boy out, and saying that it was a fit to which he was subject.[111] Here it was that Marcia the concubine presented the cup of drugged wine to the wicked Commodus, on his return from a wild beast hunt, and produced the heavy slumber during which he was strangled by the wrestler Narcissus. In this very room also his successor Pertinax, who had spent his short reign of three months in trying to reform the State, resuscitate the finances, and to heal, as far as possible, 'the wounds inflicted by the hand of tyranny,' received the news that the guard, impatient of unwonted discipline, had risen against him, and going forth to meet his assassins, fell, covered with wounds, just in front of the palace.[112]

Vitruvius says that every well-arranged Roman house has a dining-room opening into a nymphæum, and accordingly here, on the right, is a Nymphæum, with a beautiful fountain surrounded by miniature niches, once filled with bronzes and statues. Water was conveyed hither by the Neronian aqueduct. The pavement of this room was of oriental alabaster, of which fragments remain.

Beyond the Triclinium is a disgusting memorial of Roman imperial life, in the Vomitorium, with its bason, whither the feasters retired to tickle their throats with feathers, and come back with renewed appetite to the banquet.

We now reach the portico which closed the principal apartments of the palace on the south-west. Some of its Corinthian pillars have been re-erected on the sites where they were found. From hence we can look down upon some grand walls of republican times, formed of huge tufa blocks.

Passing a space of ground, called, without much authority, Bibliotheca, we reach a small Theatre on the edge of the hill, interesting as described by Pliny, and because the Emperor Vespasian, who is known to have been especially fond of reciting his own compositions, probably did so here. Hence we may look down upon the valley between the Palatine and Aventine, where the rape of the Sabines took place, and upon the site of the Circus Maximus. From hence, we may imagine, that the later emperors surveyed the hunts and games in that circus, when they did not care to descend into the amphitheatre itself.

Beyond this, on the right, is (partially restored) the grand staircase leading to the platform once occupied by the Temple of Jupiter-Victor, vowed by Fabius Maximus during the Samnite war, in the assurance that he would gain the victory. On the steps is a sacrificial altar, which retains its grooves for the blood of the victims, with an inscription stating that it was erected by "Cnæus Domitius C. Calvinus, Pontifex,"—who was a general under Julius Cæsar, and consul B.C. 53 and B.C. 40.

Now, for some distance, there are no remains, because this space was always kept clear, for here, constantly renewed, stood the Hut of Faustulus and the Sacred Fig-tree.

"The old Roman legend ran as follows:—Procas, king of Alba, left two sons. Numitor, the elder, being weak and spiritless, suffered Amulius to wrest the government from him, and reduce him to his father's private estates. In the enjoyment of these he lived rich, and, as he desired nothing more, secure: but the usurper dreaded the claims that might be set up by heirs of a different character. He had Numitor's son murdered, and appointed his daughter, Silvia, one of the Vestal virgins.

"Amulius had no children, or at least only one daughter: so that the race of Anchises and Aphrodite seemed on the point of expiring, when the love of a god prolonged it, in spite of the ordinances of man, and gave it a lustre worthy of its origin. Silvia had gone into the sacred grove, to draw water from the spring for the service of the temple. The sun quenched its rays: the sight of a wolf made her fly into a cave: there Mars overpowered the timid virgin, and then consoled her with the promise of noble children, as Posidon consoled Tyro, the daughter of Salmoneus. But he did not protect her from the tyrant; nor could the protestations of her innocence save her. Vesta herself seemed to demand the condemnation of the unfortunate priestess; for at the moment when she was delivered of twins, the image of the goddess hid its eyes, her altar trembled, and her fire died away. Amulius ordered that the mother and her babes should be drowned in the river. In the Anio Silvia exchanged her earthly life for that of a goddess. The river carried the bole or cradle, in which the children were lying, into the Tiber, which had overflowed its banks far and wide, even to the foot of the woody hills. At the root of a wild fig-tree, the Ficus Ruminalis, which was preserved and held sacred for many centuries, at the foot of the Palatine, the cradle overturned. A she-wolf came to drink of the stream: she heard the whimpering of the children, carried them into her den hard by, made a bed for them, licked and suckled them. When they wanted other food than milk, a woodpecker, the bird sacred to Mars, brought it to them. Other birds consecrated to auguries hovered over them, to drive away insects. This marvellous spectacle was seen by Faustulus, the shepherd of the royal flocks. The she-wolf drew back, and gave up the children to human nature. Acca Laurentia, his wife, became their foster-mother. They grew up, along with her twelve sons, on the Palatine hill, in straw huts which they built for themselves: that of Romulus was preserved by continual repairs, as a sacred relic, down to the time of Nero. They were the stoutest of the shepherd lads, fought bravely against wild beasts and robbers, maintaining their right against every one by their might, and turning might into right. Their booty they shared with their comrades. The followers of Romulus were called Quinctilii, those of Remus Fabii: the seeds of discord were soon sown amongst them. Their wantonness engaged them in disputes with the shepherds of the wealthy Numitor, who fed their flocks on Mount Aventine: so that here, as in the story of Evander and Cacus, we find the quarrel between the Palatine and the Aventine in the tales of the remotest times. Remus was taken by the stratagem of these shepherds, and dragged to Alba as a robber. A secret foreboding, the remembrance of his grandsons, awakened by the story of the two brothers, kept Numitor from pronouncing a hasty sentence. The culprit's foster-father hastened with Romulus to the city, and told the old man and the youths of their kindred. They resolved to avenge their own wrong and that of their house. With their faithful comrades, whom the dangers of Remus had brought to the city, they slew the king; and the people of Alba again became subject to Numitor.

"But love for the home which fate had assigned them drew the youths back to the banks of the Tiber, to found a city there, and the shepherds, their old companions, were their first citizens.... This is the old tale, as it was written by Fabius, and sung in ancient lays down to the time of Dionysius."—Niebuhr's Hist. of Rome.

In the cliff of the Palatine, below the fig-tree, was shown for many centuries the cavern Lupercal, sacred from the earliest times to the Pelasgic god Pan.

"Hinc lucum ingentum, quem Romulus acer Asylum

Retulit, et gelidâ monstrat sub rupe Lupercal,

Parrhasio dictum Panos de monte Lycæi."

Virgil, Æn. viii. 342.

"La louve, nourrice de Romulus, a peut-être été imaginée en raison des rapports mythologiques qui existaient entre le loup et Pan défenseur des troupeaux. Ce qu'il y a de sûr, c'est que les fêtes lupercales gardèrent le caractère du dieu en l'honneur duquel elles avaient été primitivement instituées et l'empreinte d'une origine pélasgique; ces fêtes au temps de Cicéron avaient encore un caractère pastoral en mémoire de l'Arcadie d'où on les croyait venues. Les Luperques qui représentaient les Satyres, compagnons de Pan, faisaient le tour de l'antique séjour des Pélasges sur le Palatin. Ces hommes nus allaient frappant avec les lanières de peau de bouc, l'animal lascif par excellence, les femmes pour les rendre fécondes; des fêtes analogues se célébraient en Arcadie sous le nom de Lukéia (les fêtes des loups), dont le mot lupercales est une traduction."—Ampère, Hist. Rome, i. 143.

In the hut of Romulus were preserved several objects venerated as relics of him.

"On conservait le bâton augural avec lequel Romulus avait dessiné sur le ciel, suivant le rite étrusque, l'espace où s'était manifesté le grand auspice des douze vautours dans lesquels Rome crut voir la promesse des douze siècles qu'en effet le destin devait lui accorder. Tous les augures se servirent par la suite de ce bâton sacré, qui fut trouvé intact après l'incendie du monument dans lequel il était conservé, miracle païen dont l'equivalent pourrait se rencontrer dans plus d'une légende de la Rome chrétienne. On montrait le cornouiller né du bois de la lance que Romulus, avec la vigueur surhumaine d'un demi-dieu, avait jetée de l'Aventin sur le Palatin, où elle s'était enfoncée dans la terre et avait produit un grand arbre.

"On montrait sur le Palatin le berceau et la cabane de Romulus. Plutarque a vu ce berceau, le Santo-Presepio des anciens Romains, qui était attaché avec des liens d'airain, et sur lequel on avait tracé des caractères mystérieux. La cabane était à un seul étage, en planches et couverte de roseaux, que l'on reconstruisait pieusement chaque fois qu'un incendie la détruisait; car elle brûla à diverses reprises, ce que la nature des matériaux dont elle était formée fait croire facilement. J'ai vu dans les environs de Rome un cabaret rustique dont la toiture était exactement pareille à celle de là cabane de Romulus."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. i. 342.

Turning along the terrace which overhangs the Velabrum we reach the ruins of the Palace of Tiberius,[113] in which he resided during the earlier part of his reign, when he was under the influence of his aged and imperious mother Livia. Here he had to mourn for Drusus, his only son, who fell a victim (A.D. 23) to poison administered to him by his wife Livilla and her lover the favourite Sejanus. Here also, in A.D. 29, died Livia, widow of Augustus, at the age of eighty-six, "a memorable example of successful artifice, having attained in succession, by craft if not by crime, every object she could desire in the career of female ambition."[114]

The row of arches remaining are those of the soldiers' quarters. In the fourth arch is a curious graffite of a ship. In another the three pavements in use at different times may be seen in situ, one above another. On the terrace above these arches has recently been discovered a large piscina, or fish-pond, and the painted chambers of a building, which is supposed to have been the House of Drusus (elder brother of Tiberius) and Antonia. Several of the rooms in this building are richly decorated in fresco, one has a picture of a street with figures of females going to a sacrifice, and of ladies at their toilette; another of Mercury, Io, and Argus; and a third of Galatea and Polyphemus. From the names of the characters in these pictures represented being affixed to them in Greek, we may naturally conclude that they are the work of Greek artists.

The north-eastern corner of the area is entirely occupied by the vast ruins of the Palace of Caligula, built against the side of the hill above the Clivus Victoriœ, which still remains, and consisting of ranges of small rooms, communicating with open galleries, edged by marble balustrades, of which a portion exists. In these rooms the half-mad Caius Caligula rushed about, sometimes dressed as a charioteer, sometimes as a warrior, and delighted in astonishing his courtiers by his extraordinary pranks, or shocking them by trying to enforce a belief in his own divinity.[115]

"C'est dans ce palais que, tourmenté par l'insomnie et par l'agitation de son âme furieuse, il passera une partie de la nuit à errer sous d'immenses portiques, attendant et appellant le jour. C'est là aussi qu'il aura l'incroyable idée de placer un dieu infâme.

"Caligula se fit bâtir sur le Palatin deux temples. Il avait d'abord voulu avoir une demeure sur le mont Capitolin; mais, ayant réfléchi que Jupiter l'avait precédé au Capitole, il en prit de l'humeur et retourna sur le Palatin. Dans les folies de Caligula, on voit se manifester cette pensée: Je suis dieu! pensée qui n'était peut-être pas très-extraordinaire chez un jeune homme de vingt-cinq ans devenu tout-à-coup maître du monde. Il parut en effet croire à sa divinité, prenant le nom et les attributs de divers dieux, et changeant de nature divine en changeant de perruque.

"Non content de s'élever un temple à lui-même, Caligula en vint à être son propre prêtre et à s'adorer. Le despotisme oriental avait connu cette adoration étrange de soi: sur les monuments de l'Egypte on voit Ramsès-roi présenter son offrande à Ramsès-dieu; mais Caligula fit ce que n'avait fait aucun Pharaon; il se donna pour collègue, dans ce culte de sa propre personne, son cheval, qu'il ne nomma pas, mais qu'il songea un moment de nommer consul."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 8.

Here "one day at a public banquet, when the consuls were reclining by his side, Caligula burst suddenly into a fit of laughter; and when they courteously inquired the cause of his mirth, astounded them by coolly replying that he was thinking how by one word he could cause both their heads to roll on the floor. He amused himself with similar banter even with his wife Cæsonia, for whom he seems to have had a stronger feeling than for any of his former consorts. While fondling her neck he is reported to have said, 'Fair as it is, how easily I could sever it.'"—Merivale, ch. xlviii.

After the murder of Caligula (Jan. 24, 794) by the tribune Cheræa, in the vaulted passage which led from the palace to the theatre, a singular chance which occurred in this part of the palace led to the elevation of Claudius to the throne.

"In the confusion which ensued upon the death of Caius, several of the prætorian guards had flung themselves furiously into the palace and began to plunder its glittering chambers. None dared to offer them any opposition; the slaves or freedmen fled and concealed themselves. One of the inmates, half-hidden behind a curtain in an obscure corner, was dragged forth with brutal violence; and great was the intruder's surprise when they recognised him as Claudius, the long despised and neglected uncle of the murdered emperor.[116] He sank at their feet almost senseless with terror: but the soldiers in their wildest mood still respected the blood of the Cæsars, and instead of slaying or maltreating the suppliant, the brother of Germanicus, they hailed him, more in jest perhaps than earnest, with the title of Imperator, and carried him off to their camp."—Merivale, ch. xlix.

In this same palace Claudius was feasting when he was told that his hitherto idolised wife Messalina was dead, without being told whether she died by her own hand or another's,—and asked no questions, merely desiring a servant to pour him out some more wine, and went on eating his supper.[117] Here also Claudius, who so dearly loved eating, devoured his last and fatal supper of poisoned mushrooms which his next loving wife (and niece) Agrippina prepared for him, to make way for her son Nero upon the throne.[118]

The Clivus Victoriæ commemorates by its name the Temple of Victory,[119] said to have been founded by the Sabine aborigines before the time of Romulus, and to be the earliest temple at Rome of which there is any mention except that of Saturnus. This temple was rebuilt by the consul L. Posthumius.

Chief of a group of small temples, the famous Temple of Cybele, "Mother of the Gods," stood at this corner of the Palatine. Thirteen years before it was built, the "Sacred Stone," the form under which the "Idæan Mother" was worshipped, had been brought from Pessinus in Phrygia, because, according to the Sibylline books, frequent showers of stones which had occurred could only be expiated by its being transported to Rome. It was given up to the Romans by their ally Attalus, king of Pergamus, and P. Cornelius Scipio, the young brother of Africanus—accounted the worthiest and most virtuous of the Romans—was sent to receive it. As the vessel bearing the holy stone came up the Tiber it grounded at the foot of the Aventine, when the aruspices declared that only chaste hands would be able to move it. Then the Vestal Claudia drew the vessel up the river by a rope.

"Ainsi Sainte Brigitte, Suédoise morte à Rome, prouva sa pureté en touchant le bois de l'autel, qui reverdit soudain. Une statue fut érigée à Claudia, dans le vestibule du temple de Cybèle. Bien qu'elle eût été, disait on, seule épargnée dans deux incendies du temple, nous n'avons plus cette statue, mais nous avons au Capitole un bas-relief où l'événement miraculeux est représenté. C'est un autel dédié par une affranchie de la gens Claudia; il a été trouvé au pied de l'Aventin, près du lieu qu'on désignait comme celui où avait été opéré le miracle."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 142.

In her temple, which was round and surmounted by a cupola, Cybele was represented by a statue with its face to the east; the building was adorned with a painting of Corybantes, and plays were acted in front of it.[120]

"Qua madidi sunt tecta Lyæi

Et Cybeles picto stat Corybante domus."

Martial, Ep. i. 71, 9.

This temple, after its second destruction by fire, was entirely rebuilt by Augustus in A.D. 2.

"Cybèle est certainement la grande déesse, la grande mère, c'est-à-dire la personnification de la fécondité et de la vie universelle: bizarre idole qui présente le spectacle hideux de mamelles disposés par paires le long d'un corps comme enveloppé dans une gaîne, et d'où sortent des taureaux et des abeilles, images des forces créatrices et des puissances ordonnatrices de la nature. On honorait cette déesse de l'Asie par des orgies furieuses, par un mélange de débauche effrénée et de rites cruels; ses prêtres efféminés dansaient au son des flûtes lydiennes et de ses crotales, véritables castagnettes, semblables à celles que fait résonner aujourd'hui la paysanne romaine en dansant la fougueuse saltarelle. On voit au musée du Capitole l'effigie bas-relief d'un archigalle, d'un chef de ces prêtres insensés, et près de lui les attributs de la déesse asiatique, les flûtes, les crotales, et la mystérieuse corbeille. Cet archigalle, avec son air de femme, sa robe qui conviendrait à une femme, nous retrace l'espèce de démence religieuse à laquelle s'associaient les délires pervers d'Héliogabale."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 310.

We have the authority of Martial[121] that in the immediate neighbourhood of the temple of Cybele, stood the Temple of Apollo, though Signor Rosa places it on the other side of the hill in the gardens of S. Buonaventura. Its remains have yet to be discovered.

"Nothing could exceed the magnificence of this temple, according to the accounts of ancient authors. Propertius, who was present at its dedication, has devoted a short elegy to the description of it, and Ovid describes it as a splendid structure of white marble.

'Tum medium claro surgebat marmore templum,

Et patria Phœbo carius Ortygia.

Auro solis erat supra fastigia currus,

Et valvæ Libyci nobile dentis opus.

Altera dejectos Parnassi vertice Gallos,

Altera mœrebat funera Tantalidos.

Deinde inter matrem Deus ipse, interque sororem

Pythius in longa carmina veste sonat.'

Propertius, ii. El. 31.

'Inde timore pari gradibus sublimia celsis

Ducor ad intonsi candida templa Dei.'

Ovid, Trist. iii. El. 1.

"From the epithet aurea porticus, it seems probable that the cornice of the portico which surrounded it was gilt. The columns were of African marble, or giallo-antico, and must have been fifty-two in number, as between them were the statues of the fifty Danaids, and that of their father, brandishing a naked sword.

'Quæris cur veniam tibi tardior? aurea Phœbi

Porticus a magno Cæsare aperta fuit.

Tota erat in speciem Pœnis digesta columnis:

Inter quas Danai fœmina turba senis.'

Propert. ii. El. 31.

'Signa peregrinis ubi sunt alterna columnis

Belides, et stricto barbarus ense pater.'

Ovid, Trist. iii. 1. 61.

"Here also was a statue of Apollo sounding the lyre, apparently a likeness of Augustus; whose beauty when a youth, to judge from his bust in the Vatican, might well entitle him to counterfeit the god. Around the altar were the images of four oxen, the work of Myron, so beautifully sculptured that they seemed alive. In the middle of the portico rose the temple, apparently of white marble. Over the pediment was the chariot of the sun. The gates were of ivory, one of them sculptured with the story of the giants hurled down from the heights of Parnassus, the other representing the destruction of the Niobids. Inside the temple was the statue of Apollo in a tunica talaris, or long garment, between his mother Latona and his sister Diana, the work of Scopas, Cephisodorus, and Timotheus. Under the base of Apollo's statue Augustus caused to be buried the Sibylline books which he had selected and placed in gilt chests. Attached to the temple was a library called Bibliotheca Græca et Latina, apparently, however, only one structure, containing the literature of both tongues. Only the choicest works were admitted to the honour of a place in it, as we may infer from Horace:

'Tangere vitet

Scripta, Palatinus quæcunque recepit Apollo.'

Ep. i. 3. 16.

"The library appears to have contained a bronze statue of Apollo, fifty feet high; whence we must conclude that the roof of the hall exceeded that height. In this library, or more probably, perhaps, in an adjoining apartment, poets, orators, and philosophers recited their productions. The listless demeanour of the audience on such occasions seems, from the description of the younger Pliny, to have been, in general, not over-encouraging. Attendance seems to have been considered as a friendly duty."—Dyer's City of Rome.

The temple of Apollo was built by Augustus to commemorate the battle of Actium. He appropriated to it part of the land covered with houses which he had purchased upon the Palatine;—another part he gave to the Vestals; the third he used for his own palace.

"Phœbus habet partem, Vestæ pars altera cessit:

Quod superest illis, tertius ipse tenet.

. . . . .

Stet domus, æternos tres habet una deos."

Ovid, Fast. iv. 951.

Thus Apollo and Vesta became as it were the household gods of Augustus:

"Vestaque Cæsareos inter sacrata penates,

Et cum Cæsarea tu, Phœbe domestice, Vesta."

Ovid, Metam. xv. 864.

Other temples on the Palatine were that of Juno Sospita:

"Principio mensis Phrygiæ contermina Matri

Sospita delubris dicitur aucta novis."

Ovid, Fast. ii. 55.

of Minerva:

"Sexte, Palatinæ cultor facunde Minervæ

Ingenio frueris qui propiore Dei."

Martial, v. Ep. 5.

a temple of Moonlight mentioned by Varro (iv. 10) and a shrine of Vesta.

"Vestaque Cæsareos inter sacrata penates."

Ovid, Met. i.

From the Torretta del Palatino which is near the house of Caligula, there is a magnificent view over the seven hills of Rome;—the Palatine, Aventine, Capitoline, Cœlian, Quirinal, Viminal, and Esquiline. From this point also it is very interesting to remember that these were not the heights considered as "the Seven Hills" in the ancient history of Rome, when the sacrifices of the Septimontium were offered upon the Palatine, Velia, and Germale, the three divisions of the Palatine—of which one can no longer be traced; upon the Fagutal, Oppius, and Cispius, the secondary heights of the Esquiline; and upon the Suburra, which perhaps comprehended the Viminal.[122] Hence also we see the ground we have traversed on the Palatine spread before us like a map.

If we descend the staircase in the Palace of Caligula, we may trace as far as the Porta Romana the piers of the Bridge of Caligula, which, half in vanity, half in madness, he threw across the valley, that he might, as he said, the more easily hold intercourse with his friend and comrade Jupiter upon the Capitol. One of the piers which he used for his bridge, beyond the limits of the palace, was formed by the temple of Augustus built by Tiberius.[123] This bridge, with all other works of Caligula, was of very short duration, being destroyed immediately after his death by Claudius.

Returning by the Clivus Victoriæ, we shall find ourselves again on the eastern slope of the hill from which we started, the site once occupied by so many of the great patrician families. Here at one time lived Caius Gracchus, who to gratify the populace, gave up his house on the side of the Palatine, and made his home in the gloomy Suburra. Here also lived his coadjutor in the consulship, Fulvius Flaccus, who shared his fate, and whose house was razed to the ground by the people after his murder. At this corner of the hill also was the house of Q. Lutatius Catulus, poet and historian, who was consul B.C. 102, and together with Marius was conqueror of the Cimbri in a great battle near Vercelli. In memory of this he founded a temple of the "Fortuna hujusce diei," and decorated the portico of his house with Cimbrian trophies. Varro mentions that his house had also a domed roof.[124] Here also the consul Octavius, murdered on the Janiculum by the partisans of Marius, had a house, which was rebuilt with great magnificence by Emilius Scaurus, who adorned it with columns of marble thirty-eight feet high.[125] These two last-named houses were bought by the wealthy Clodius, who gave 14,800,000 sesterces, or about 130,000l., for that of Scaurus, and throwing down the Porticus Catuli, included its site, and the house of E. Scaurus, in his own magnificent dwelling. Clodius was a member of the great house of the Claudii, and was the favoured lover of Pompeia, wife of Julius Cæsar, by whose connivance, disguised as a female musician, he attempted to be present at the orgies of the Bona Dea, which were celebrated in the house of the Pontifex Maximus close to the temple of Vesta, and from which men were so carefully excluded, that even a male mouse, says Juvenal, dared not show himself there. The position of his own dwelling, and that of the pontifex, close to the foot of the Clivus Victoriæ, afforded every facility for this adventure, but it was discovered by his losing himself in the passages of the Regia. A terrible scandal was the result—Cæsar divorced Pompeia, and the senate referred the matter to the pontifices, who declared that Clodius was guilty of sacrilege. Clodius attempted to prove an alibi, but Cicero's evidence showed that he was with him in Rome only three hours before he pretended to have been at Interamna. Bribery and intimidation secured his acquittal by a majority of thirty-one to twenty-five,[126] but from this time a deadly enmity ensued between him and Cicero.

The house of Clodius naturally leads us to that of Cicero, which was also situated at this corner of the Palatine, whence he could see his clients in the Forum and go to and fro to his duties there. This house had been built for M. Livius Drusus, who, when his architect proposed a plan to prevent its being overlooked, answered, "Rather build it so that all my fellow-citizens may behold everything that I do." In his acts Drusus seemed to imitate the Gracchi; but he sought popularity for its own sake, and after being the object of a series of conspiracies was finally murdered in the presence of his mother Cornelia, in his own hall, where the image of his father was sprinkled with his blood. When dying he turned to those around him and asked, with characteristic arrogance, based perhaps upon conscious honesty of purpose, "when will the commonwealth have a citizen like me again?" After the death of Drusus the house was inhabited by L. Licinius Crassus the orator, who lived here in great elegance and luxury. His house was called from its beauty "the Venus of the Palatine," and was remarkable for its size, the taste of its furniture, and the beauty of its grounds. "It was adorned with pillars of Hymettian marble, with expensive vases, and triclinia inlaid with brass. His gardens were provided with fishponds, and some noble lotus-trees shaded his walks. Ahenobarbus, his colleague in the censorship, found fault with such corruption of manners,[127] estimated his house at a hundred million, or, according to Valerius Maximus,[128] six million sesterces, and complained of his crying for the loss of a lamprey as if it had been a daughter. It was a tame lamprey which used to come at the call of Crassus, and feed out of his hand. Crassus retorted by a public speech against his colleague, and by his great powers of ridicule, turned him into derision; jested upon his name,[129] and to the accusation of weeping for a lamprey, replied, that it was more than Ahenobarbus had done for the loss of any of his three wives."[130] Cicero purchased the house of Crassus a year or two after his consulate for a sum equal to about 30,000l., and removed thither from the Carinæ with his wife Terentia. His house was close to that of Clodius, but a little lower down the hill, which enabled him to threaten to increase the height, so as to shut out his neighbour's view of the city. Upon his accession to the tribuneship Clodius procured the disgrace of Cicero, and after his flight to Greece, obtained a decree of banishment against him. He then pillaged and destroyed his house upon the Palatine, as well as his villas at Tusculum and Formia, and obliged Terentia to take refuge with the Vestals, whose Superior was fortunately her sister. But in the following year, a change of consuls and revulsion of the popular favour led to the recall of Cicero, who found part of his house appropriated by Clodius, who had erected a shrine to Libertas (with a statue which was that of a Greek courtezan carried off from the tomb)[131] on the site of the remainder, which he had razed to the ground.[132]

"Clodius had also destroyed the portico of Catulus; in fact, he appears to have been desirous of appropriating all this side of the Palatine. He wanted to buy the house of the ædile Seius. Seius having declared that so long as he lived, Clodius should not have it, Clodius caused him to be poisoned, and then bought his house under a feigned name! He was thus enabled to erect a portico three hundred feet in length, in place of that of Catulus. The latter, however, was afterwards restored at the public expense.

"Cicero obtained public grants for the restoration of his house and of his Tusculan and Formian villas, but very far from enough to cover the losses he had suffered. The aristocratic part of the Senate appears to have envied and grudged the novus homo to whose abilities they looked for protection. He was advised not to rebuild his house on the Palatine, but to sell the ground. It was not in Cicero's temper to take such a course; but he was hampered ever after with debts. Clodius, who had been defeated but not beaten, still continued his persecutions. He organised a gang of street boys to call out under Cicero's windows, 'Bread! Bread!' His bands interrupted the dramatic performances on the Palatine, at the Megalesian games, by rushing upon the stage. On another occasion, Clodius, at the head of his myrmidons, besieged the Senate in the temple of Concord. He attacked Cicero in the streets, to the danger of his life; and when he had begun to rebuild his house, drove away the masons, overthrew what part had been re-erected of Catulus' portico, and cast burning torches into the house of Quintus Cicero, which he had hired next to his brother's on the Palatine, and consumed a great part of it."—Dyer's City of Rome, 152.

The indemnity which Cicero received from the state in order to rebuild his house on the Palatine, amounted to about 16,000l. The house of Quintus Cicero was rebuilt close to his brother's at the same time by Cyrus, the fashionable architect of the day.[133]

Among other noble householders on this part of the Palatine was Mark Antony,[134] whose house was afterwards given by Augustus to Agrippa and Messala, soon after which it was burnt down.

A small Museum in this part of the garden contains some of the smaller objects which have been found in the excavations, and specimens of the different marbles and alabasters. There is nothing of any great importance. The fragments of statues and some busts which have been found (including Flavia Domitilla, wife of Vespasian, and Julia, daughter of Titus), have been sent to Paris, but casts have been left here.

We have now made the round of the French division of the Palatine.

It has been decided that some remains which exist in the garden of the Villa Mills (now a Convent of Visitandine Nuns) are those of the House of Hortensius, an orator, "who was second only to Cicero in eloquence, and who, in the early part at least of their lives, was his chief opponent."[135] Cicero himself describes the extraordinary gifts of his rival[136] as well as the integrity with which he fulfilled the duties of a quæstor.[137] In the latter portion of his public career Hortensius was frequently engaged on the same side with Cicero, and then always recognised his superiority by allowing him to speak last. Hortensius died B.C. 50, to the great grief of his ancient rival.[138] The splendid villas of Hortensius were celebrated. He was accustomed to water his trees with wine at regular intervals,[139] and had huge fishponds at Bauli, into which the salt-water fish came to be fed from his hand, and he became so fond of them, that he wept for the death of a favourite muræna.[140] But the house on the Palatine was exceedingly simple and had no decorations but plain columns of Alban stone.[141] This was the chosen residence of Augustus, until, upon its destruction by fire, the citizens insisted upon raising the more sumptuous residence in the hollow of the Palatine by public subscription. The subterranean chambers which have been discovered have some interesting remains of stucco ornament.

The villa, which is now turned into a convent, possessed some frescoes painted by Giulio Romano from designs of Raphael, but these have been destroyed or removed in deference to the modesty of the present inhabitants. The neighbouring church and garden of S. Sebastiano occupy the site of the Gardens of Adonis. (See Chap. IV.)

A large, and by far the most picturesque portion of the Palace of the Cæsars (the only part which was not imbedded in soil ten years ago), is now accessible either from the end of the lane of S. Buenaventura, or from a gate on the left of the Via dei Fienili just before reaching Sta. Anastasia. The excavations in the last-named quarter were begun by the Emperor of Russia, who purchased the site, but afterwards presented it to the city.

Behind Sta. Maria Liberatrice, in some farm buildings, are remains which probably belong to the Regia of Julius Cæsar.

Beyond this, against the escarpment of the Palatine, a part of the Walls of Romulus has been discovered, built in large oblong blocks. Here also are fragments of bases of towers of republican times. Behind S. Teodoro are remains of an early concrete wall, behind which the tufa rock is visible. The wall is only built where the tufa is of a soft character.

"La système de construction est le même que dans les villes d'Étrurie et dans la muraille bâtie à Rome par les rois étrusques. Cependant l'appareil est moins régulier. Les murs d'une petite ville du Latium fondée par un aventurier ne pouvaient être aussi soignés que les murs des villes de l'Étrurie, pays tout autrement civilisé. La petite cité de Romulus, bornée au Palatin, n'avait pas l'importance de la Rome des Tarquins, qui couvrait les huit collines.

"Du reste, la construction est étrusque et devait l'être. Romulus n'avait dans sa ville, habitée par des pâtres et des bandits, personne qui fût capable d'en bâtir l'enceinte. Les Étrusques, grands bâtisseurs, étaient de l'autre côté du fleuve. Quelques-uns même l'avaient probablement passé déjà et habitaient le mont Cœlius. Romulus dut s'adresser à eux, et faire faire cet ouvrage par des architects et des maçons étrusques. Ce fut aussi selon le rite de l'Étrurie, pays sacerdotal, que Romulus, suivant en cela l'usage établi dans les cités latines, fit consacer l'enceinte de la ville nouvelle. Il agit en cette circonstance comme agit un paysan romain, quand il appelle un prêtre pour bénir l'emplacement de la maison qu'il veut bâtir.

"Les détails de la cérémonie par laquelle fut inaugurée la première enceinte de Rome nous ont été transmis par Plutarque,[142] et, avec un grand détail par Tacite,[143] qui sans doute avait sous les yeux les livres des pontifes. Nous connaissons avec exactitude le contour que traça la charrue sacrée. Nous pouvons le suivre encore aujourd'hui.

"Romulus attela an taureau blanc et une vache blanche à une charrue dont le soc était d'airain.[144] L'usage de l'airain a précédé à Rome, comme partout, l'usage du fer. Il partit du lieu consacré par l'antique autel d'Hercule, au-dessous de l'angle occidental du Palatin et de la première Rome des Pelasges, et, se dirigeant vers le sud-est, traça son sillon le long de la base de la colline.

"Ceux qui suivaient Romulus, rejetaient les mottes de terre en dedans du sillon, image du Vallum futur. Ce sillon était l'Agger de Servius Tullius en petit. A l'extrémité de la vallée qui sépare le Palatin de l'Aventin, où devait être le grand cirque, et où est aujourd'hui la rue des Cerchi, il prit à gauche, et, contournant la colline, continua, en creusant toujours son sillon, à tracer sans le savoir la route que devaient suivre un jour les triomphes, puis revint au point d'où il était parti. La charrue, l'instrument du labour, le symbole de la vie agricole des enfants de Saturne, avait dessiné le contour de la cité guerrière de Romulus. De même, quand on avait détruit une ville, on faisait passer la charrue sur le sol qu'elle avait occupé. Par là, ce sol devenait sacré, et il n'était pas plus permis de l'habiter qu'il ne l'était de franchir le sillon qu'on creusait autour des villes lors de leur fondation, comme le fit Romulus et comme le firent toujours depuis les fondateurs d'une colonie; car toute colonie était une Rome."—Ampère, Hist. Rome, i. 283.

Close under this, the northern side of the walls of Romulus, ran the Via Nova, down which Marcus Cædicius was returning to the city in the gloaming, when, at this spot, between the sacred grove and the temple of Vesta, he heard a supernatural voice, bidding him to warn the senate of the approach of the Gauls. After the Gauls had invaded Rome, and departed again, an altar and sanctuary recorded the miracle on this site.[145]

At the corner near Sta. Anastasia, are remains of a private house of early times built against the cliff. Near this were the steps called the Stairs of Cacus, leading up to the hut of Faustulus. On the other side the Gradus Pulchri Littoris, the κλη Ακτη of Plutarch, led to the river.[146]

Here a remarkable altar of republican times has been discovered, and remains in situ. It is inscribed SEI DEO SEI DIVAE SAC.—C SEXTIVS C T CALVINUS TR—DE SENATI SENTENTIA RESTITVIT. Some suppose this to be the actual altar mentioned above as erected to the Genius Loci, in consequence of the mysterious warning of the Gallic invasion. The father of the tribune, C. S. Calvinus, mentioned in the inscription, was consul with C. Cassius Longinus, B.C. 124, and is described by Cicero as an elegant orator of a sickly constitution.[147]

Beyond this a number of chambers have been discovered under the steep bank of the Palatine, and retain a quantity of graffiti scratched upon their walls. The most interesting of these, found in the fourth chamber, has been removed to the museum of the Collegio Romano. It is generally believed to have been executed during the reign of Septimius Severus, and to have been done in an idle moment by one of the soldiers occupying these rooms, supposed to have been used as guard-chambers under that emperor. If so, it is perhaps the earliest existing pictorial allusion to the manner of our Saviour's death. It is a caricature evidently executed in ridicule of a Christian fellow-soldier. The figure on the cross has an ass's head, and by the worshipping figure is inscribed in Greek characters, Alexamenos worships his God.

"The lowest orders of the populace were as intelligently hostile to it [the worship of the Crucified] as were the philosophers. Witness that remarkable caricature of the adoration of our crucified Lord, which was discovered some ten years ago beneath the ruins of the Palatine palace. It is a rough sketch, traced, in all probability, by the hand of some pagan slave in one of the earliest years of the third century of our era. A human figure with an ass's head is represented as fixed to a cross, while another figure in a tunic stands on one side. This figure is addressing himself to the crucified monster, and is making a gesture which was the customary pagan expression of adoration. Underneath there runs a rude inscription: Alexamenos adores his God. Here we are face to face with a touching episode of the life of the Roman Church in the days of Severus or of Caracalla. As under Nero, so, a century and a half later, there were worshippers of Christ in the household of Cæsar. But the paganism of the later date was more intelligently and bitterly hostile to the Church than the paganism which had shed the blood of the apostles. The Gnostic invective which attributed to the Jews the worship of an ass, was applied by pagans indiscriminately to Jews and Christians. Tacitus attributes the custom to a legend respecting services rendered by wild asses to the Israelites in the desert; 'and so, I suppose,' observes Tertullian, 'it was thence presumed that we, as bordering upon the Jewish religion, were taught to worship such a figure.' Such a story, once current, was easily adapted to the purposes of a pagan caricaturist. Whether from ignorance of the forms of Christian worship, or in order to make his parody of it more generally intelligible to its pagan admirers, the draughtsman has ascribed to Alexamenos the gestures of a heathen devotee. But the real object of his parody is too plain to be mistaken. Jesus Christ, we may be sure, had other confessors and worshippers in the Imperial palace as well as Alexamenos. The moral pressure of the advancing Church was felt throughout all ranks of pagan society; ridicule was invoked to do the work of argument; and the moral persecution which crowned all true Christian devotion was often only the prelude to a sterner test of that loyalty to a crucified Lord, which was as insensible to the misrepresentations, as Christian faith was superior to the logic, of heathendom."[148]—Liddon, Bampton Lectures of 1866, lect. vii. p. 593.

These chambers acquire a great additional interest from the belief which many entertain that they are those once occupied by the Prætorian Guard, in which St. Paul was confined.

"The close of the Epistle to the Ephesians contains a remarkable example of the forcible imagery of St. Paul. Considered simply in itself, the description of the Christian's armour is one of the most striking passages in the sacred volume. But if we view it in connection with the circumstances with which the Apostle was surrounded, we find a new and living emphasis in his enumeration of all the parts of the heavenly panoply,—the belt of sincerity and truth, with which the loins are girded for the spiritual war,—the breast-plate of that righteousness, the inseparable links whereof are faith and love,—the strong sandals, with which the feet of Christ's soldiers are made ready, not for such errands of death and despair as those on which the Prætorian soldiers were daily sent, but for the universal message of the gospel of peace,—the large shield of confident trust, wherewith the whole man is protected, and whereon the fiery arrows of the Wicked One fall harmless and dead,—the close-fitting helmet, with which the hope of salvation invests the head of the believer,—and finally the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, which, when wielded by the Great Captain of our Salvation, turned the tempter in the wilderness to flight, while in the hands of His chosen Apostle (with whose memory the sword seems inseparably associated), it became the means of establishing Christianity on the earth.

"All this imagery becomes doubly forcible if we remember that when St. Paul wrote the words he was chained to a soldier, and in the close neighbourhood of military sights and sounds. The appearance of the Prætorian Guards was daily familiar to him; as his 'chains,' on the other hand (so he tells us in the succeeding Epistle), became well known throughout the whole Prætorium! (Phil. i. 13). A difference of opinion has existed as to the precise meaning of the word in this passage. Some have identified it, as in the authorised version, with the house of Cæsar on the Palatine: more commonly it has been supposed to mean that permanent camp of the Prætorian Guards, which Tiberius established on the north of the city, outside the walls. As regards the former opinion, it is true that the word came to be used, almost as we use the word 'palace,' for royal residences generally or for any residences of princely splendour. Yet we never find the word employed for the imperial house at Rome: and we believe the truer view to be that which has been recently advocated, namely, that it denotes here, not the palace itself, but the quarters of that part of the imperial guards, which was in immediate attendance upon the emperor. The emperor was prætor or commander-in-chief of the troops, and it was natural that his immediate guard should be in prætorium near him. It might, indeed, be argued that this military establishment on the Palatine would cease to be necessary, when the Prætorian camp was established: but the purpose of that establishment was to concentrate near the city those cohorts, which had previously been dispersed in other parts of Italy: a local body-guard near the palace would not cease to be necessary: and Josephus, in his account of the imprisonment of Agrippa, speaks of a 'camp' in connection with the 'royal house.' Such we conceive to have been the barrack immediately alluded to by St. Paul: though the connection of these smaller quarters with the general camp was such that he would naturally become known to 'all the rest' of the guards, as well as those who might for the time be connected with the imperial household.

"St. Paul tells us (in the Epistle to the Philippians) that throughout the Prætorian quarter he was well known as a prisoner for the cause of Christ, and he sends special salutations to the Philippian Church from the Christians of the imperial household. These notices bring before us very vividly the moral contrasts by which the Apostle was surrounded. The soldier to whom he was chained to-day might have been in Nero's body-guard yesterday; his comrade who next relieved guard might have been one of the executioners of Octavia, and might have carried her head to Poppæa a few weeks before.

"History has few stronger contrasts than when it shows us Paul preaching Christ under the walls of Nero's palace. Thenceforward there were but two religions in the Roman world; the worship of the emperor, and the worship of the Saviour. The old superstitions had long been worn out; they had lost all hold on educated minds.... Over against the altars of Nero and Poppæa, the voice of a prisoner was daily heard, and daily woke in grovelling souls the consciousness of their divine destiny. Men listened, and knew that self-sacrifice was better than ease, humiliation more exalted than pride, to suffer nobler than to reign. They felt that the only religion which satisfied the needs of man was the religion of sorrow, the religion of self-devotion, the religion of the cross."—Conybeare and Howson.

Hence, we may ascend through some gardens beneath the Villa Mills, to the terrace which surmounts the grand ruins at the end of the Palace of the Cæsars, supposed to be remains of the Palace of Nero, but as no inscriptions have been discovered, no part of it can be identified.[149] These are by far the most picturesque portions of the ruins, and few compositions can be finer than those formed by the huge masses of stately brick arches, laden with a wealth of laurustinus, cytizus, and other flowering shrubs, standing out against the soft hues and delicate blue and pink shadows of the distant Campagna. Beneath the terrace is a fine range of lofty chambers, with a broken statue at the end, through which there is a striking view. One of these ruined halls has been converted into a kind of museum of architectural fragments found in this part of the palace, many of them of great beauty. This was the portion of the palace which longest remained entire, and which was inhabited by Heraclius in the seventh century. Some consider that these ruins were incorporated into the

Septizonium of Severus, so called from its seven stories of building, erected A.D. 198, and finally destroyed by Sixtus V., who carried off its materials for the building of St Peter's. It was erected by Severus at the southern corner of the palace, in order that it might at once strike the eyes of his African compatriots,[150] on their arrival in Rome. He built two other edifices which he called Septizonium, one on the Esquiline near the baths of Titus, and the other on the Via Appia, which he intended as the burial-place of his family, and where his son Geta was actually interred.

The remaining ruins on this division of the hill, supposed to be those of a theatre, a library, &c., have not yet been historically identified. They probably belong to the Palace of Domitian (Imp. A.D. 81—96), who added largely to the buildings on the Palatine. The magnificence of his palace is extolled in the inflated verses of Statius, who describes the imperial dwelling as exciting the jealousy of the abode of Jupiter—as losing itself amongst the stars by its height, and rising above the clouds into the full splendour of the sunshine! Such was the extravagance displayed by Domitian in these buildings, that Plutarch compares him to Midas, who wished everything to be made of gold. This was the scene of many of the tyrannical vagaries of Domitian.

"'Having once made a great feast for the citizens, he proposed,' says Dion, 'to follow it up with an entertainment to a select number of the highest nobility. He fitted up an apartment all in black. The ceiling was black, the walls were black, the pavement was black, and upon it were ranged rows of bare stone seats, black also. The guests were introduced at night without their attendants, and each might see at the head of his couch a column placed, like a tomb-stone, on which his own name was graven, with the cresset lamp above it, such as is suspended in the tombs. Presently there entered a troop of naked boys, blackened, who danced around with horrid movements, and then stood still before them, offering them the fragments of food which are commonly presented to the dead. The guests were paralysed with terror, expecting at every moment to be put to death; and the more, as the others maintained a deep silence, as though they were dead themselves, and Domitian spake of things pertaining to the state of the departed only.' But this funeral feast was not destined to end tragically. Cæsar happened to be in a sportive mood, and when he had sufficiently enjoyed his jest, and had sent his visitors home expecting worse to follow, he bade each to be presented with the silver cup and platter on which his dismal supper had been served, and with the slave, now neatly washed and apparelled, who had waited upon him. Such, said the populace, was the way in which it pleased the emperor to solemnise the funereal banquet of the victims of his defeats in Dacia, and of his persecutions in the city."—Merivale, ch. lxii.

It was in this palace that the murder of Domitian took place:

"Of the three great deities, the august assessors in the Capitol, Minerva was regarded by Domitian as his special patroness. Her image stood by his bedside: his customary oath was by her divinity. But now a dream apprised him that the guardian of his person was disarmed by the guardian of the empire, and that Jupiter had forbidden his daughter to protect her favourite any longer. Scared by these horrors he lost all self-control, and petulantly cried, and the cry was itself a portent: 'Now strike Jove whom he will!' From supernatural terrors he reverted again and again to earthly fears and suspicions. Henceforward the tyrant allowed none to be admitted to his presence without being previously searched; and he caused the ends of the corridor in which he took exercise to be lined with polished marble, to reflect the image of any one behind him; at the same time he inquired anxiously into the horoscope of every chief whom he might fear as a possible rival or successor.

"The victim of superstition had long since, it was said, ascertained too surely the year, the day, the hour which should prove fatal to him. He had learnt too that he was to die by the sword.... The omens were now closing about the victim, and his terrors became more importunate and overwhelming. 'Something,' he exclaimed, 'is about to happen, which men shall talk of all the world over.' Drawing a drop of blood from a pimple on his forehead, 'May this be all,' he added. His attendants, to reassure him, declared that the hour had passed. Embracing the flattering tale with alacrity, and rushing at once to the extreme of confidence, he announced that the danger was over, and that he would bathe and dress for the evening repast. But the danger was just then ripening within the walls of the palace. The mysteries there enacted few, indeed, could penetrate, and the account of Domitian's fall has been coloured by invention and fancy. The story that a child, whom he suffered to attend in his private chamber, found by chance the tablets which he had placed under his pillow, and that the empress, on inspecting them, and finding herself, with his most familiar servants, designated for execution, contrived a plot for his assassination, is one so often repeated as to cause great suspicion. But neither can we accept the version of Philostratus, who would have us believe that the murder of Domitian was the deed of a single traitor, a freedman of Clemens, named Stephanus, who, indignant at his patron's death, and urged to fury by the sentence on his patron's wife, Domitilla, rushed alone into the tyrant's chamber, diverted his attention with a frivolous pretext, and smote him with the sword he bore concealed in his sleeve. It is more likely that the design, however it originated, was common to several of the household, and that means were taken among them to disarm the victim, and baffle his cries for assistance. Stephanus, who is said to have excelled in personal strength, may have been employed to deal the blow; for not more, perhaps, than one attendant would be admitted at once into the presence. Struck in the groin, but not mortally, Domitian snatched at his own weapon, but found the sword removed from its scabbard. He then clutched the assassin's dagger, cutting his own fingers to the bone; then desperately thrust the bloody talons into the eyes of his assailant, and beat his head with a golden goblet, shrieking all the time for help. Thereupon in rushed Parthenius, Maximus, and others, and despatched him as he lay writhing on the pavement."—Merivale, ch. lxii.

Trajan stripped the palace of his predecessors of all its ornaments to adorn the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus,[151] but it was restored by Commodus, after a fire which occurred in his reign,[152] and enriched by Heliogabalus,[153] and almost every succeeding emperor, till the time of Theodoric.[154]

"'Brickwork I found thee, and marble I left thee!' their Emperor vaunted;

'Marble I thought thee, and brickwork I find thee!' the Tourist may answer."

A. H. Clough.

CHAPTER VII.

THE CŒLIAN.

S. Gregorio—S. Giovanni e Paolo—Arch of Dolabella—S. Tommaso in Formis—Villa Mattei—Sta. Maria della Navicella—S. Stefano Rotondo—I Santi Quattro Incoronati—S. Clemente.

The Cœlian Hill extends from St. John Lateran to the Vigna of the Porta Capena, and from the Fountain of Egeria to the Convent of S. Gregorio. It is now entirely uninhabited, except by monks of the Camaldolese, Passionist, and Redemptorist Orders, and by the Augustinian Nuns of the Incoronati.

IN the earliest times the name of this hill was Mons Querquetulanus, "The Hill of Oaks," and it was clothed with forest, part of which long remained as the sacred wood of the Camenæ. It first received its name of Cœlius from Cœlius Vibenna, an Etruscan Lucumo of Ardea, who is said to have come to the assistance of Romulus in his war against the Sabine king Tatius, and to have afterwards established himself here. In the reign of Tullus Hostilius the Cœlian assumed some importance, as that king fixed his residence here, and transported hither the Latin population of Alba.

As the Cœlian had a less prominent share in the history of Rome than any of the other hills, it preserves scarcely any historical monuments of pagan times. All those which existed under the republic were destroyed by a great fire which ravaged this hill in the reign of Tiberius,[155] except the Temple of the Nymphs, which once stood in the grove of the Camenæ, and which had been already burnt by Clodius, in order to destroy the records of his falsehoods and debts which it contained.[156] Some small remains in the garden of the Passionist convent are attributed to the temple which Agrippina raised to her husband the Emperor Claudius, and in S. Stefano Rotondo some antiquaries recognize the Macellum of Nero. There are no remains of the palace of the Emperor Tetricus, who lived here, "between the two sacred groves,"[157] in a magnificent captivity under Aurelian, whom he received here at a banquet, at which he exhibited an allegorical picture representing his reception of the empire of Gaul, and his subsequent resignation of it for the simple insignia of a Roman senator.[158]

To the Christian visitor, however, the Cœlian will always prove of the deepest interest—and the slight thread of connection which runs between all its principal objects, as well as their nearness to one another, brings them pleasantly within the limits of a single day's excursion. Many of those who are not mere passing visitors at Rome, will probably find that their chief pleasure lies not amid the well-known sights of the great basilicas and palaces, but in quiet walks through the silent lanes and amid the decaying buildings of these more distant hills.

"The recollection of Rome will come back, after many years, in images of long delicious strolls, in musing loneliness, through the deserted ways of the ancient city; of climbing among its hills, over ruins, to reach some vantage-ground for mapping out the subjacent territory, and looking beyond on the glorious chains of greater and lesser mountains, clad in their imperial hues of gold and purple; and then, perhaps, of solemn entrance into the cool solitude of an open basilica, where your thought now rests, as your body then did, after the silent evening prayer, and brings forward from many well-remembered nooks, every local inscription, every lovely monument of art, the characteristic feature of each, or the great names with which it is associated. The Liberian speaks to you of Bethlehem and its treasured mysteries; the Sessorian of Calvary and its touching relics. Baronius gives you his injunctions on Christian architecture inscribed, as a legacy, in his title of Fasciola; St. Dominic lives in the fresh paintings of a faithful disciple, on the walls of the opposite church of St. Xystus; there stands the chair and there hangs the hat of St. Charles, as if he had just left his own church, from which he calls himself in his signature to letters 'the Cardinal of St. Praxedes;' near it, in a sister church, is fresh the memory of St. Justin Martyr, addressing his apologies for Christianity to heathen emperor and senate, and of Pudens and his British spouse; and, far beyond the city gates, the cheerful Philip[159] is seen kneeling at S. Sebastiano, waiting for the door to the Platonia to be opened for him, that he may watch the night through in the martyr's dormitory."—Wiseman's Life of Leo XII.

"For myself, I must say that I know nothing to compare with a pilgrimage among the antique churches scattered over the Esquiline, the Cœlian, and the Aventine Hills. They stand apart, each in its solitude, amid gardens, and vineyards, and heaps of nameless ruins;—here a group of cypresses, there a lofty pine or solitary palm; the tutelary saint, perhaps some Sant' Achilleo, or Santa Bibiana, whom we never heard of before,—an altar rich in precious marbles,—columns of porphyry,—the old frescoes dropping from the walls,—the everlasting colossal mosaics looking down so solemn, so dim, so spectral;—these grow upon us, until at each succeeding visit they themselves, and the associations by which they are surrounded, become a part of our daily life, and may be said to hallow that daily life when considered in a right spirit. True, what is most sacred, what is most poetical, is often desecrated to the fancy by the intrusion of those prosaic realities which easily strike prosaic minds; by disgust at the foolish fabrications which those who recite them do not believe, by lying inscriptions, by tawdry pictures, by tasteless and even profane restorations;—by much that saddens, much that offends, much that disappoints;—but then so much remains! So much to awaken, to elevate, to touch the heart; so much that will not pass away from the memory, so much that makes a part of our after-life."—Mrs. Jameson.

We may pass under the Arch of Constantine, or through the pleasant sunny walks known as the Parco di San Gregorio,—planted by the French during their first occupation of Rome, but which may almost be regarded as a remnant of the sacred grove of the Camenæ which once occupied this site.

The further gate of the Parco opens on a small triangular piazza, whence a broad flight of steps lead up to the Church of S. Gregorio, to the English pilgrim one of the most interesting spots in Rome, for it was at the head of these steps that St. Augustine took his last farewell of Gregory the Great, and, kneeling on this green-sward below, the first missionaries of England received the parting blessing of the great pontiff, as he stood on the height in the gateway. As we enter the portico (built 1633, by Card. Scipio Borghese,) we see on either side two world-famous inscriptions.

On the right:

Adsta hospes

et lege.

Hic olim fuit M. Gregori domus

Ipse in monasterium convertit,

Ubi monasticen professus est

Et diu abbas præfuit.

Monachi primum Benedictini

Mox Græci tenuere

Dein Benedictini iterum

Post varios casos

Quum jamdiu

Esset commendatum

Et poene desertum.

Anno MDLXXIII

Camaldulenses inducti

Qui et industria sua

Et ope plurium

R. E. Cardinalium

Quorum hic monumenta exstant,

Favente etiam Clemente XI. P. M.

Templum et adjacentes ædes

In hanc quam cernis formam

Restituerunt.

On the left:

Ex hoc monasterio

Prodierunt.

S.

Gregorius, M. Fundator et Parens

S.

Eleutherius, A.B. Hilarion, A.B.

S.

Augustinus. Anglor. Apostol.

S.

Laurentius. Cantuar. Archiep.

S.

Mellitus. Londinen. Ep. mox. Archiep. Cantuar.

S.

Justus. Ep. Roffensis.

S.

Paulinus. Ep. Eborac.

S.

Maximianus. Syracusan. Ep.

SS.

Antonius, Merulus, et Joannes, Monachi.

St.

Petrus. A.B. Cantuar.

Marinianus. Archiep. Raven.

Probus. Xenodochi. Jerosolymit.

Curator. A. S. Gregori. Elect.

Sabinus Callipodit. Ep.

Gregorius. Diac. Card. S. Eustach.

Hic. Etiam. Diu. Vixit. M. Gregori

Mater. S. Silvia. Hoc. Maxime

Colenda. Quod. Tantum. Pietatis

Sapientiæ. Et. Doctrinæ. Lumen Pepererit.

"Cette ville incomparable renferme peu de sites plus attrayants et plus dignes d'éternelle mémoire. Le sanctuaire occupe l'angle occidental du mont Cœlius.... Il est à égale distance du grand Cirque, des Thermes de Caracalla et du Colisée, tout proche de l'église des saints martyrs Jean et Paul. Le berceau du christianisme de l'Angleterre touche ainsi au sol trempé par le sang de tant de milliers de martyrs. En face s'élève le mont Palatin, berceau de Rome païenne, encore couvert des vastes débris du palais des Césars.... Où est donc l'Anglais digne de ce nom qui, en portant son regard du Palatin au Colisée, pourrait contempler sans émotion ce coin de terre d'où lui sont venus la foi, le nom chrétien et la Bible dont il est si fier. Voilà où les enfants esclaves de ses aïeux étaient recueillis et sauvés! Sur ces pierres s'agenouillaient ceux qui ont fait sa patrie chrétienne! Sous ces voûtes a été conçu par une âme sainte, confié à Dieu, béni par Dieu, accepté et accompli par d'humbles et généreux chrétiens, le grand dessein! Par ces degrés sont descendus les quarante moines qui ont porté à l'Angleterre la parole de Dieu, la lumière de l'Évangile, la succession apostolique et la règle de Saint-Benoît!"—Montalembert, Moines d'Occident.

Hard by was the house of Sta. Silvia, mother of St. Gregory, of which the ruins still remain, opposite to the church of S. Giovanni e Paolo, and in the little garden which still exists, we may believe that he played as a child under his mother's care. Close to his mother's home he founded the monastery of St. Andrew, where he dwelt for many years as a monk, employed in writing homilies, and in the enjoyment of visionary conversation with the Virgin, whom he believed to answer him in person from her picture before which he knelt. "To this monastery he presented his own portrait, with those of his father and mother, which were probably in existence 300 years after his death; and this portrait of himself probably furnished that peculiar type of physiognomy which we trace in all the best representations of him."[160] During the life of penance and poverty which was led here by St. Gregory, he sold all his goods for the benefit of the poor, retaining nothing but a silver bason given him by his mother. One day a poor shipwrecked sailor came several times to beg in the cell where he was writing, and as he had no money, he gave him instead this one remaining treasure. A long time after, St. Gregory saw the same shipwrecked sailor reappear in the form of his guardian angel, who told him that God had henceforth destined him to rule his church, and become the successor of St. Peter, whose charity he had imitated.[161]

"Un moine (A.D. 590) va monter pour la première fois sur la chaire apostolique. Ce moine, le plus illustre de tous ceux qui ont compté parmi les souverains pontifes, y rayonnera d'un éclat qu'aucun de ses prédécesseurs n'a égalé et qui rejaillera comme une sanction suprême, sur l'institut dont il est issu. Grégoire, le seul parmi les hommes avec le Pape Léon Ier qui ait reçu à la fois, du consentement universel, le double surnom de Saint et de Grand, sera l'eternel honneur de l'Ordre bénédictin comme de la papauté. Par son génie, mais surtout par le charme et l'ascendant de sa vertu, il organisera le domaine temporel des papes, il développera et régularisera leur souveraineté spirituelle, il fondera leur paternelle suprématie sur les royautés naissantes et les nations nouvelles qui vont devenir les grands peuples de l'avenir, et s'appeler la France, l'Espagne, l'Angleterre. A vrai dire, c'est lui qui inaugure le moyen âge, la société moderne et la civilisation chrétienne."—Montalembert.

The church of St. Gregory is approached by a cloistered court filled with monuments. On the left is that of Sir Edward Carne, one of the commissioners to obtain the opinion of foreign universities respecting the divorce of Henry VIII. from Catherine of Arragon, ambassador to Charles V., and afterwards to the court of Rome. He was recalled when the embassy was suppressed by Elizabeth, but was kept at Rome by Paul IV., who had conceived a great affection for him, and he died here in 1561. Another monument, of an exile for the catholic faith, is that of Robert Pecham, who died 1567, inscribed:

"Roberto Pecham Anglo, equite aurato, Philippi et Mariæ Angliæ et Hispan regibus olim a consiliis genere religione virtute præclaro qui cum patriam suam a fede catholica deficientem adspicere sine summo dolore non posset, relictis omnibus quæ in hac vita carissima esse solent, in voluntarium profectus exilium, post sex annis pauperibus Christi heredibus testamento institutis, sanctissime e vita migravit."

The Church, rebuilt in 1734, under Francesco Ferrari, has sixteen ancient granite columns and a fine Opus-Alexandrinum pavement. Among its monuments we may observe that of Cardinal Zurla, a learned writer on geographical subjects, who was abbot of the adjoining convent. It was a curious characteristic of the laxity of morals in the time of Julius II. (1503-13), that her friends did not hesitate to bury the famous Aspasia of that age in this church, and to inscribe upon her tomb: "Imperia, cortisana Romana, quæ digna tanto nomine, raræ inter homines formæ specimen dedit. Vixit annos xxvi. dies xii. obiit 1511, die 15 Augusti,"—but this monument has now been removed.

At the end of the right aisle is a picture by Badalocchi, commemorating a miracle on this spot, when, at the moment of elevation, the Host is said to have bled in the hands of St. Gregory, to convince an unbeliever of the truth of transubstantiation. It will be observed that in this and in most other representations of St. Gregory, a dove is perched upon his shoulder, and whispering into his ear. This is commemorative of the impression that every word and act of the saint was directly inspired by the Holy Ghost; a belief first engendered by the happy promptitude of Peter, his arch-deacon, who invented the story to save the beloved library of his master which was about to be destroyed after his death by the people, in a pitiful spirit of revenge, because they fancied that a famine which was decimating them, had been brought about by the extravagance of Gregory.[162] An altar beneath this picture is decorated with marble reliefs, representing the same miracle, and also the story of the soul of the Emperor Trajan being freed from purgatory by the intercession of Gregory. (Chap. IV.)

A low door near this leads into the monastic cell of St. Gregory, containing his marble chair, and the spot where his bed lay, inscribed:

"Nocte dieque vigil longo hic defessu labore

Gregorius modica membra quiete levat."

Here also an immense collection of minute relics of saints are exposed to the veneration of the credulous.

On the opposite side of the church is the Salviati Chapel, the burial-place of that noble family, modernized in 1690 by Carlo Maderno. Over the altar is a copy of Annibale Caracci's picture of St. Gregory, which once existed here, but is now in England. On the right is the picture of the Madonna, "which spoke to St. Gregory," and which is said to have become suddenly impressed upon the wall after a vision in which she appeared to him;—on the left is a beautiful marble ciborium.

Hence a sacristan will admit the visitor into the Garden of Sta. Silvia, whence there is a grand view over the opposite Palatine.

"To stand here on the summit of the flight of steps which leads to the portal, and look across to the ruined Palace of the Cæsars, makes the mind giddy with the rush of thoughts. There, before us, the Palatine Hill—pagan Rome in the dust; here, the little cell, a few feet square, where slept in sackcloth the man who gave the last blow to the power of the Cæsars, and first set his foot as sovereign on the cradle and capital of their greatness."—Mrs. Jameson.

Here are three Chapels, restored by the historian Cardinal Baronius, in the sixteenth century. The first, of Sta. Silvia, contains a fresco of the Almighty with a choir of angels, by Guido, and beneath it a beautiful statue of the venerable saint (especially invoked against convulsions), by Niccolo Cordieri—one of the best statues of saints in Rome. The second chapel, of St. Andrew, contains the two famous rival frescoes of Guido and Domenichino. Guido has represented St. Andrew kneeling in reverent thankfulness at first sight of the cross on which he was to suffer; Domenichino—a more painful subject—the flagellation of the saint. Of these paintings Annibale Caracci observed that "Guido's was the painting of the Master; but Domenichino's the painting of the scholar who knew more than the master." The beautiful group of figures in the corner, where a terrified child is hiding its face in its mother's dress, is introduced in several other pictures of Domenichino.

"It is a well-known anecdote that a poor old woman stood for a long time before the story of Domenichino, pointing it out bit by bit and explaining it to a child who was with her,—and that she then turned to the story told by Guido, admired the landscape, and went away. It is added that when Annibale Caracci heard of this, it seemed to him in itself a sufficient reason for giving the preference to the former work. It is also said that when Domenichino was painting one of the executioners, he worked himself up into a fury with threatening words and gestures, and that Annibale, surprising him in this condition, embraced him, saying: 'Domenico, to-day you have taught me a lesson, which is that a painter, like an orator, must first feel himself that which he would represent to others.'"—Lanzi, v. 82.

"In historical pictures Domenichino is often cold and studied, especially in the principal subject, while on the other hand, the subordinate persons have much grace, and a noble character of beauty. Thus, in the scourging of St. Andrew, a group of women thrust back by the executioners is of the highest beauty. Guido's fresco is of high merit—St. Andrew, on his way to execution, sees the cross before him in the distance, and falls upon his knees in adoration,—the executioners and spectators regard him with astonishment."—Kugler.

The third chapel, of Sta. Barbara, contains a grand statue of St. Gregory by Niccolo Cordieri[163] (where the whispering dove is again represented), and the table at which he daily fed twelve poor pilgrims after washing their feet. The Roman breviary tells how on one occasion an angel appeared at the feast as the thirteenth guest. This story,—the sending forth of St. Augustine,—and other events of St. Gregory's life, are represented in rude frescoes upon the walls by Viviani.

The adjoining Convent (modern) is of vast size, and is now occupied by Camaldolese monks, though in the time of St. Gregory it belonged to the Benedictines. In its situation it is beautiful and quiet, and must have been so even in the time of St. Gregory, who often regretted the seclusion which he was compelled to quit.

"Un jour, plus accablé que jamais par le poids des affaires séculières, il s'était retiré dans un lieu secret pour s'y livrer dans un long silence à sa tristesse, et y fut rejoint par le diàcre Pierre, son élève, son ami d'enfance et le compagnon de ses chères études. 'Vous est-il donc arrivé quelque chagrin nouveau,' lui dit le jeune homme, 'pour que vous soyez ainsi plus triste qu'à l'ordinaire.' 'Mon chagrin,' lui répondit le pontife, 'est celui de tous mes jours, toujours vieux par l'usage, et toujours nouveau par sa croissance quotidienne. Ma pauvre âme se rappelle ce qu'elle était autrefois, dans notre monastère, quand elle planait sur tout ce qui passe, sur tout ce qui change; quand elle ne songeait qu'au ciel; quand elle franchissait par la contemplation le cloître de ce corps qui l'enserre; quand elle aimait d'avance la mort comme l'entrée de la vie. Et maintenant il lui faut, à cause de ma charge pastorale, supporter les mille affaires des hommes du siècle et se souiller dans cette poussière. Et quand, après s'être ainsi répandue au dehors, elle veut retrouver sa retraite intérieure, elle n'y revient qu'amoindrie. Je médite sur tout ce que je souffre et sur tout ce que j'ai perdu. Me voici, battu par l'océan et tout brisé par la tempête; quand je pense à ma vie d'autrefois, il me semble regarder en arrière vers le rivage. Et ce qu'il y a de plus triste, c'est qu'ainsi ballotté par l'orage, je puis à peine entrevoir le port que j'ai quitté.'"—Montalembert, Moines d'Occident.

Pope Gregory XVI. was for some years abbot of this convent, to which he was afterwards a generous benefactor;—regretting always, like his great predecessor, the peace of his monastic life. His last words to his cardinals, who were imploring him, for political purposes, to conceal his danger, were singularly expressive of this—"Per Dio lasciatemi!—voglio morire da frate, non da sovrano." The last great ceremony enacted at S. Gregorio was when Cardinal Wiseman consecrated the mitred abbot of English Cistercians,—Dr. Manning preaching at the same time on the prospects of English Catholicism.

Ascending the steep paved lane between S. Gregorio and the Parco, the picturesque church on the left with the arcaded apse and tall campanile (c. A.D. 1206), inlaid with coloured tiles and marbles, is that of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, two officers in the household of the Christian princess Constantia, daughter of the Emperor Constantine, in whose time they occupied a position of great influence and trust. When Julian the Apostate came to the throne, he attempted to persuade them to sacrifice to idols, but they refused, saying, "Our lives are at the disposal of the emperor, but our souls and our faith belong to our God." Then Julian, fearing to bring them to public martyrdom, lest their popularity should cause a rebellion and the example of their well-known fortitude be an encouragement to others, sent off soldiers to behead them privately in their own house. Hence the inscription on the spot, "Locus martyrii SS. Joannis et Paoli in ædibus propriis." The church was built by Pammachus, the friend of St. Jerome, on the site of the house of the saints. It is entered by a portico adorned with eight ancient granite columns, interesting as having been erected by the English pope, Nicholas Breakspear, A.D. 1158. The interior, in the basilica form, has sixteen ancient columns and a beautiful Opus-Alexandrinum pavement. In the centre of the floor is a stone, railed off, upon which it is said that the saints were beheaded. Their bodies are contained in a porphyry urn under the high altar. In early times these were the only bodies of saints preserved within the walls of Rome (the rest being in the catacombs). In the Sacramentary of St. Leo, in the Preface of SS. John and Paul, it is said, "Of Thy merciful providence Thou hast vouchsafed to crown not only the circuit of the city with the glorious passions of the martyrs, but also to hide in the very heart of the city itself the victorious limbs of St. John and St. Paul."[164]

Above the tribune are frescoes by Pomerancio. A splendid chapel on the right was built 1868;—two of its alabaster pillars were the gift of Pius IX. Beneath the altar on the left of the tribune is preserved the embalmed body of St. Paul of the Cross (who died 1776), founder of the Order of Passionists, who inhabit the adjoining convent. The aged face bears a beautiful expression of repose;—the body is dressed in the robe which clothed it when living.[165]

Male visitors are admitted through the convent to its large and beautiful Garden, which overhangs the steep side of the Cœlian towards the Coliseum, of which there is a fine view between its ancient cypresses. Here, on a site near the monastery, are some remains believed to be those of the temple built by Agrippina (c. A.D. 57), daughter of Germanicus, to the honour of her deified husband (and uncle) Claudius, after she had sent him to Olympus by feeding him with poisonous mushrooms. This temple was pulled down by Nero, who wished to efface the memory of his predecessor, on the pretext that it interfered with his Golden House; but was rebuilt under Vespasian. In this garden also is the entrance to the vast substructions known as the Vivarium, whence the wild beasts who devoured the early Christian martyrs were frightened by burning tow down a subterranean passage into the arena.

The famous Church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo at Venice was founded by emigrants from this convent. The memory of these saints was so much honoured up to the time of Pope Gregory the Great, that the eve of their festival was an obligatory fast. Their fête (June 26) is still kept with great solemnities on the Cœlian, when the railing round their place of execution is wreathed and laden with flowers. When the "station" is held at their church, the apse is illuminated.

Continuing to follow the lane up the Cœlian, we reach the richly tinted brick Arch of Dolabella, erected, A.D. 10, by the consuls P. Cornelius Dolabella and Caius Julius Silanus. Nero, building his aqueduct to the palace of the Cæsars, made use of this, which already existed, and included it in his line of arches.

Above the arch is a Hermitage, revered as that where S. Giovanni di Matha lived, and where he died in 1213. Before he came to reside here he had been miraculously brought from Tunis (whither he had gone on a mission) to Ostia, in a boat without helm or sail, in which he knelt without ceasing before the crucifix throughout the whole of his voyage!

Passing beneath the gateway, we emerge upon the picturesque irregular Piazza of the Navicella, the central point of the Cœlian, which is surrounded by a most interesting group of buildings, and which contains an isolated fragment of the aqueduct of Nero, dear to artists from its colour. Behind this, under the trees, is the little marble Navicella, which is supposed to have been originally a votive offering of a sailor to Jupiter Redux, whose temple stood near this; but which was adapted by Leo X. as a Christian emblem of the Church,—the boat of St. Peter.

"The allegory of a ship is peculiarly dwelt upon by the ancient Fathers. A ship entering the port was a favourite heathen emblem of the close of life. But the Christian idea, and its elevation from individual to universal or catholic humanity, is derived directly from the Bible,—see, for instance, I Peter iii. 20, 21. 'Without doubt,' says St. Augustine, 'the ark is the figure of the city of God pilgrimising in this world, in other words, of the Church, which is saved by the wood on which hung the mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.' The same interpretation was recognised in the Latin Church in the days of Tertullian and St. Cyprian, &c. The bark of St. Peter is similarly represented on a Greek gem, found in the Catacombs, as sailing on a fish, probably Leviathan or Satan, while doves, emblematical of the faithful, perch on the mast and stern,—two Apostles row, a third lifts up his hands in prayer, and our Saviour, approaching the vessel, supports Peter by the hand when about to sink.... But the allegory of the ship is carried out to its fullest extent in the fifty-seventh chapter of the second book of the 'Apostolical Constitutions,' supposed to have been compiled in the name of the Apostles, in the fourth century."—Lord Lindsay's Christian Art, i. 18.

On the right is (first) the gateway of the deserted convent of Redemptorists, called S. Tommaso in Formis, which was founded by S. Giovanni de Matha, who, when celebrating his first mass at Paris, beheld in a vision, an angel robed in white, with a red and blue cross upon his breast, and his hands resting in benediction upon the heads of two captives,—a white and a black man. The bishop of Paris sent him to Rome to seek explanation from Innocent III., who was celebrated as an interpreter of dreams,—his foundation of the Franciscan order having resulted from one which befell him. S. Giovanni was accompanied to the pope by another hermit, Felix de Valois. They found that Innocent had himself seen the same vision of the angel between the two captives while celebrating mass at the Lateran, and he interpreted it as inculcating the duty of charity towards Christian slaves, for which purpose he founded the Trinitarians, since called Redemptorists. The story of the double vision is commemorated in a Mosaic, erected above the door, A.D. 1260, and bearing the name of the artist, Jacobus Cosmati.

The next gate beyond the church is that of the Villa Mattei, the garden of the Redemptorists. (The villa is now the property of Baron Richard Hoffmann: visitors are generally admitted upon writing down their names at the gate.)

These grounds are well worth visiting—quite the ideal of a deserted Roman garden, a wealth of large Roman daisies, roses, and periwinkle spreading at will amid remains of ancient statues and columns. A grand little avenue of ilexes leads to a terrace whence there is a most beautiful view towards the aqueducts and the Alban Hills, with a noble sarcophagus and a quantity of fine aloes and prickly-pears in the foreground. There is an obelisk, of which only the top is Egyptian. It is said that there is a man's hand underneath;—when the obelisk was lowered it fell suddenly, and one of the workmen had not time to take his hand away. In the grounds annexed to the lower part of the villa is the Fountain of Egeria (p. 375).

Almost standing in the garden of the villa, and occupying the site of the house of Sta. Cyriaca, is the Church of Sta. Maria in Domenica or della Navicella. (If no one is here, the hermit at S. Stefano Rotondo will unlock it.) The portico is due to Raphael (his design is at Windsor). The damp interior (rebuilt by Leo X. from designs of Raphael) is solemn and striking. It is in the basilica form, the nave separated from the aisles by eighteen columns of granite and one (smaller, near the tribune) of porphyry. The frieze, in chiaroscuro, was painted by Giulio Romano and Pierino del Vaga. Beneath the confessional are the bones of Sta. Balbina, whose fortress-like church stands on the Pseudo-Aventine. In the tribune are curious mosaics, in which the figure of Pope Paschal I. is introduced, the square nimbus round his head being an evidence of its portrait character, i. e., that it was done during his lifetime.[166]

"Within the tribune are mosaics of the Virgin and Child seated on a throne, with angels ranged in regular rows on each side; and, at her feet, with unspeakable stiffness of limb, the kneeling figure of Pope Paschal I. Upon the walls of the tribune is the Saviour with a nimbus, surrounded with two angels and the twelve apostles, and further below, on a much larger scale, two prophets, who appear to point towards him. The most remarkable thing here is the rich foliage decoration. Besides the wreaths of flowers (otherwise not a rare feature) which are growing out of two vessels on the edge of the dome, the floor beneath the figures is also decorated with flowers—a graceful species of ornament seldom aimed at in the moroseness of Byzantine art. From this point, the decline into utter barbarism is rapid."—Kugler.

"The Olivetan monks inhabited the church and cloisters of Sta. Maria in Domenica, commonly called in Navicella, from the rudely sculptured marble monument that stands on the grass before its portal, a remnant of bygone days, to which neither history nor tradition has given a name, but which has itself given one to the picturesque old church which stands on the brow of the Cœlian Hill."—Lady Georgiana Fullerton.

A tradition of the Church narrates that St. Lorenzo, deacon and martyr, daily distributed alms to the poor in front of this church—then the house of Sta. Cyriaca—with whom he had taken refuge.

Opposite, is the round Church of S. Stefano Rotondo, dedicated by St. Simplicius in 467. It appears to have been built on the site of an ancient circular building, and to have belonged to the great victual market—Macellum Magnum—erected by Nero in this quarter.[167] It is seldom used for service, except on St. Stephen's Day (December 26), but visitors are admitted through a little cloister, in which stands a well of beautiful proportions, of temp. Leo X.—attributed to Michael Angelo. The interior is exceedingly curious architecturally. It is one hundred and thirty-three feet in diameter, with a double circle of granite columns, thirty-six in the outer and twenty in the inner series, enclosing two tall Corinthian columns, with two pilasters supporting a cross wall. In the centre is a kind of temple in which are relics of St. Stephen (his body is said to be at S. Lorenzo). In the entrance of the church is an ancient marble seat from which St. Gregory is said to have read his fourth homily.

The walls are lined with frescoes by Pomerancio and Tempesta. They begin with the Crucifixion, but as the Holy Innocents really suffered before our Saviour, one of them is represented lying on each side of the cross. Next comes the stoning of St. Stephen, and the frescoes continue to pourtray every phase of human agony in the most revolting detail, but are interesting as showing a historical series of what the Roman Catholic Church considers as the best authenticated martyrdoms, viz.:

Under Nero—

St. Peter, crucified.

St. Paul, beheaded.

St. Vitale, buried alive.

St. Thecla, tossed by a bull.

St. Gervase, beaten to death.

SS. Protasius, Processus, and Martinianus, beheaded.

St. Faustus and others, clothed in skins of beasts and torn to pieces by dogs.

Under Domitian—

St. John, boiled in oil (which he survived) at the Porta Latina.

St. Cletus, Pope, beheaded.

St. Denis, beheaded (and carrying his head).

St. Domitilla, roasted alive.

SS. Nereus and Achilles, beheaded.

Under Trajan—

St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, eaten by lions in the Coliseum.

St. Clement, Pope, tied to an anchor and thrown into the sea.

St. Simon, Bishop of Jerusalem, crucified.

Under Hadrian—

St. Eustachio, his wife Theophista, and his children Agapita and Theophista, burnt in a brazen bull before the Coliseum.

St. Alexander, Pope, beheaded.

Under Antoninus-Pius and Marcus Aurelius—

St. Sinforosa, drowned, and her seven sons martyred in various ways.

St. Pius, Pope, beheaded.

St. Felicitas and her seven sons martyred in various ways.

St. Justus, beheaded.

St. Margaret, stretched on a rack, and torn to pieces with iron forks.

Under Antoninus and Verus—

St. Blandina, tossed by a bull, in a net.

St. Attalus, roasted on red-hot chair.

St. Pothicus and others, burnt alive.

Under Septimius Severus and Caracalla—

SS. Perpetua and Felicitas, torn to pieces by lions in the Coliseum.

SS. Victor and Zephyrinus, Leonida and Basil, beheaded.

St. Alexandrina, covered with boiling pitch.

Under Alexander Severus—

St. Calixtus, Pope, thrown into a well with a stone round his neck.

St. Calepodius, dragged through Rome by wild horses, and thrown into the Tiber.

St. Martina, torn with iron forks.

St. Cecilia, who, failing to be suffocated with hot water, was stabbed in the throat.

St. Urban the Pope, Tibertius, Valerianus, and Maximus, beheaded.

Under Valerianus and Gallienus—

St. Pontianus, Pope, beheaded in Sardinia.

St. Agatha, her breasts cut off.

SS. Fabian and Cornelius, Popes, and St. Cyprian of Carthage, beheaded.

St. Tryphon, burnt.

SS. Abdon and Sennen, torn by lions.

St. Apollonia, burnt, after all her teeth were pulled out.

St. Stephen, Pope, burnt in his episcopal chair.

St. Cointha, torn to pieces.

St. Sixtus, Pope, killed with the sword.

St. Venantius, thrown from a wall.

St. Laurence the deacon, roasted on a gridiron.

St. Hippolytus, torn by wild horses.

SS. Rufina and Semula, drowned in the Tiber.

SS. Protus and Hiacinthus, beheaded.

Under Claudius II.—

Three hundred Christians, burnt in a furnace.

St. Tertullian, burnt with hot irons.

St. Nemesius, beheaded.

St. Sempronius, Olympius, and Theodulus, burnt.

St. Marius, hung, with a huge weight tied to his feet.

St. Martha, and her children, martyred in different ways.

SS. Cyprian and Justinian, boiled.

St. Valentine, killed with the sword.

Under Aurelian and Numerianus—

St. Agapitus (aged 15), hung head downwards over a pan of burning charcoal. Inscribed above are these words from Wisdom, 'Properavit ut educeret illum a seductionibus et iniquitatibus gentis suæ.' St. Christina, transfixed through the heart.

St. Columba, burnt.

SS. Chrysanthus and Daria, buried alive.

Under Diocletian and Maximianus—

St. Agnes, bound to a stake, afterwards beheaded.

St. Caius, Pope, beheaded.

St. Emerantia, stoned to death.

Nearly the whole population of Nicomedia martyred in different ways.

St. Erasmus, laid in a coffin, into which boiling lead was poured.

St. Blaise, bound to a column, and torn to pieces.

St. Barbara, burnt with hot irons.

St. Eustrathius and his companions, martyred in different ways.

St. Vincent, burnt on a gridiron.

SS. Primus and Felicianus, torn by lions.

St. Anastasia, thrown from a rock? SS. Quattro Incoronati, martyred in various ways.

SS. Peter and Marcellinus, beheaded.

St. Boniface, placed in a dungeon full of boiling pitch.

St. Lucia, shut up in a well full of serpents.

St. Euphemia, run through with a sword.

SS. Vitus, Modestus, and Crescentius, boiled alive.

St. Sebastian, shot with arrows (which he survived).

SS. Cosmo and Damian, Pantaleon, Saturninus, Susanna, Gornius, Adrian, and others, in different ways.

Under Maxentius—

St. Catherine of Alexandria, and others, broken on the wheel.

SS. Faustina and Porfirius, burnt with a company of soldiers.

St. Marcellus, Pope, died worn out by persecution.

Under Maximinus and Licinius—

St. Simon and 1600 citizens cut into fragments.

St. Peter, Bishop of Alexandra, and forty soldiers, left to die, up to their waists in a frozen lake.

Under Julian the Apostate—º

SS. John and Paul, beheaded.

St. Artemius, crushed between two stones.

St. Pigmenius, drowned in the Tiber.

St. Bibiana, flogged to death, and thrown for food to dogs in the Forum.

The last picture represents the reunion of eminent martyrs (in which the Roman Church includes English sufferers under Elizabeth), and above is inscribed this verse from Isaiah xxv., "Laudabit populus fortis, civitas gentium robustarum."

"Au-dessus du tableau de la Crucifixion se trouve cette inscription: 'Roi glorieux des martyrs, s'il donne sa vie pour racheter la péché, il verra une postérité sans fin.' Et quelle postérité! Hommes, femmes, vieillards, jeunes hommes, jeunes filles, enfants! Comme tous accourent, comme tous savent mourir."—Une Chrétienne à Rome.

"Les païens avaient divinisé la vie, les chrétiens divinisèrent la mort."—Madame de Stael.

"S. Stefano Rotondo exhibits, in a series of pictures all round the church, the martyrdoms of the Christians in the so-called persecutions, with a general picture of the most eminent martyrs since the triumph of Christianity. No doubt many of the particular stories thus painted will bear no critical examination; it is likely enough, too, that Gibbon has truly accused the general statements of exaggeration. But this is a thankless labour, such as Lingard and others have undertaken with regard to the St. Bartholomew massacre, and the Irish massacre of 1642. Divide the sum total of reported martyrs by twenty,—by fifty, if you will,—but after all you have a number of persons of all ages and sexes suffering cruel torments and death for conscience' sake and for Christ's, and by their sufferings manifestly, with God's blessing, ensuring the triumph of Christ's gospel. Neither do I think that we consider the excellence of this martyr-spirit half enough. I do not think pleasure is a sin: the stoics of old, and the ascetic Christians since, who have said so (see the answers of that excellent man, Pope Gregory the Great, to Augustine's questions, as given at length by Bede), have, in saying so, outstepped the simplicity and wisdom of Christian truth. But, though pleasure is not a sin, yet surely the contemplation of suffering for Christ's sake is a thing most needful to us in our days, from whom, in our daily life, suffering seems so far removed. And, as God's grace enabled rich and delicate persons, women, and even children, to endure all extremities of pain and reproach in times past, so there is the same grace no less mighty now, and if we do not close ourselves against it, it might in us be no less glorified in a time of trial. And that such times of trial will come, my children, in your times, if not in mine, I do believe fully, both from the teaching of man's wisdom and of God's. And therefore pictures of martyrdom are, I think, very wholesome—not to be sneered at, nor yet to be looked on as a mere excitement,—but as a sober reminder to us of what Satan can do to hurt, and what God's grace can enable the weakest of His people to bear. Neither should we forget those who, by their sufferings, were more than conquerors, not for themselves only, but for us, in securing to us the safe and triumphant existence of Christ's blessed faith—in securing to us the possibility, nay, the actual enjoyment, had it not been for the Antichrist of the priesthood—of Christ's holy and glorious ἑκκλησια, the congregation and commonwealth of Christ's people."—Arnold's Letters.

"On croit que l'église de Saint-Etienne-le-Rond est bâtie sur l'emplacement du Macellum Augusti. S'il en est ainsi, les supplices des martyrs, hideusement représentés sur les murs de cette église, rappellent ce qu'elle a remplacé."—Ampère, Emp. i. 270.

The first chapel on the left, dedicated to SS. Primus and Felicianus, contains some delicate small mosaics.

"The mosaics of the small altar of S. Stefano Rotondo, are of A.D. 642—649. A brilliantly-decorated cross is represented between two standing figures of St. Primus and St. Felicianus. On the upper end of the cross (very tastefully introduced) appears a small head of Christ with a nimbus, over which the hand of the Father is extended in benediction."—Kugler.

In the next chapel is a very beautiful tomb of Bernardino Capella, Canon of St. Peter's, who died 1524.

In a small house, which formerly stood among the gardens in this neighbourhood, Palestrina lived and wrote.

"Sous le règne de Paul IV., Palestrina faisait partie de la chapelle papale; mais il fut obligé de la quitter, parce-qu'il était marié. Il se retira alors dans une chaumière perdue au milieu des vignes du Mont Cœlius, et là, seul, inconnu au monde, il se livra, durant de longs jours, à cette extase de la pensée qui agrandit, au-delà de toute mesure, la puissance créatrice de l'homme. Le désir des Pères du concile lui ayant été manifesté, il prit aussitôt une plume, écrivit en tête de son cahier, 'Mon Dieu, éclairez-moi,' et se mit à l'œuvre avec un saint enthousiasme. Ses premiers efforts ne répondirent pas à l'idéal que son génie s'était formé; mais peu à peu ses pensées s'éclaircirent, et les flots de poésie qui inondaient son âme, se répandirent en mélodies touchantes. Chaque parole du texte retentissait clairement, allait chercher toutes les consciences, et les exaltait dans une émotion commune. La messe du pape Marcel trancha la question; et Pie IV. s'écria, après l'avoir entendue, qu'il avait cru assister aux concerts des anges."—Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne, ii. 195.

Following the lane of S. Stefano Rotondo—skirted by broken fragments of Nero's aqueduct—almost to its debouchment near St. J. Lateran, and then turning to the left, we reach the quaint fortress like church and convent of the Santi Quattro Incoronati crowned by a stumpy campanile of 1112. The full title of this church is "I Santi quattro Pittori Incoronati e i cinque Scultori Martiri," the names which the Church attributes to the painters being Severus, Severianus, Carpoforus, and Vittorinus; and those of the sculptors Claudius, Nicostratus, Sinforianus, Castorius, and Simplicius,—who all suffered for refusing to carve and paint idols for Diocletian. Their festa is kept on Nov. 8.

This church was founded on the site of a temple of Diana by Honorius I., A.D. 622; rebuilt by Leo IV. A.D. 850; and again rebuilt in its present form by Paschal II., who consecrated it afresh in A.D. 1111. It is approached through a double court, in which are many ancient columns,—perhaps remains of the temple. Some antiquaries suppose that the church itself was once of larger size, and that the pillars which now form its atrium were once included in the nave. The interior is arranged on the English plan with a triforium and a clerestory, the triforium being occupied by the nuns of the adjoining convent. The aisles are groined, but the nave has a wooden ceiling. Behind the tribune is a vaulted passage, partly subterranean. The tribune contains a marble throne, and is adorned with frescoes by Giovanni di San Giovanni.[168] In the right aisle are preserved some of the verses of Pope Damasus. Another inscription tells of the restoration of the church in the fifteenth century, and describes the state of desolation into which it had fallen.

"Hæc quæcumque vides veteri prostrata ruina

Obruta verberis, ederis, dumisque jacebant."

Opening out of the court in front of the church is the little Chapel of S. Sylvestro, built by Innocent II. in 1140. It contains a series of very curious frescoes.

"Showing the influence of Byzantine upon Roman art is the little chapel of S. Silvestro, detailing the history of the conversion of Constantine with a naïveté which, with the exception of a certain dignity in some of the figures, constitutes their sole attraction. They are indeed little better than Chinese paintings; the last of the series, representing Constantine leading Pope Sylvester's horse by the bridle, walking beside him in his long flowing robe, with a chattah held over his head by an attendant, has quite an Asiatic character."—Lord Lindsay's Christian Art.

"Here, as in so many instances, legend is the genuine reflex, not of the external, but the moral part of history. In this series of curious wall-paintings, we see Constantine dismissing, consoled and laden with gifts, the mothers whose children were to be slaughtered to provide a bath of blood, the remedy prescribed—but which he humanely rejected—for his leprosy, his punishment for persecuting the Church while he yet lingered in the darkness of paganism; we see the vision of St. Peter and St. Paul, who appear to him in his dreams, and prescribe the infallible cure for both physical and moral disease through the waters of baptism; we see the mounted emissaries, sent by the emperor to seek St. Sylvester, finding that pontiff concealed in a cavern on Mount Soracte; we see that saint before the emperor, exhibiting to him the authentic portraits of the two apostles (said to be still preserved at St. Peter's), pictures in which Constantine at once recognises the forms seen in his vision, assuming them to be gods entitled to his worship; we see the imperial baptism, with a background of fantastic architecture, the rite administered both by immersion (the neophyte standing in an ample font) and affusion; we see the pope on a throne, before which the emperor is kneeling, to offer him a tiara—no doubt the artist intended thus to imply the immediate bestowal of temporal sovereignty (very generally believed the act of Constantine in the first flush of his gratitude and neophyte zeal) upon the papacy; lastly, we see the pontiff riding into Rome in triumph, Constantine himself leading his horse, and other mitred bishops following on horseback. Another picture—evidently by the same hand—quaintly represents the finding of the true cross by St. Helena, and the miracle by which it was distinguished from the crosses of the two thieves,—a subject here introduced because a portion of that revered relic was among treasures deposited in this chapel, as an old inscription, on one side, records. The largest composition on these walls, which completes the series, represents the Saviour enthroned amidst angels and apostles. This chapel is now only used for the devotions of a guild of marble-cutters, and open for mass on but one Sunday—the last—in every month."—Hemans Mediæval Christian Art.

In the fresco of the Crucifixion in this chapel an angel is represented taking off the crown of thorns and putting on a real crown, an incident nowhere else introduced in art.

The castellated Convent of the Santi Quattro was built by Paschal II. at the same time as the church, and was used as a papal palace while the Lateran was in ruins, hence its defensive aspect, suited to the troublous times of the anti-popes. It is now inhabited by Augustinian Nuns.

At the foot of the Cœlian beneath the Incoronati, and in the street leading from the Coliseum to the Lateran, is the Church of S. Clemente, to which recent discoveries, have given an extraordinary interest.

The upper church, in spite of modernizations under Clement XI. in the last century, retains more of the details belonging to primitive ecclesiastical architecture than any other building in Rome. It was consecrated in memory of Clement, the fellow-labourer of St Paul, and the third bishop of Rome, upon the site of his family house. It was already important in the time of Gregory the Great, who here read his thirty-third and thirty-eighth homilies. It was altered by Adrian I. in A.D. 772, and by John VIII. in A.D. 800, and again restored in A.D. 1099 by Paschal II., who had been cardinal of the church, and who was elected to the papacy within its walls. The greater part of the existing building is thus either of the ninth or the twelfth century.

At the west end a porch supported by two columns, and attributed to the eighth century, leads into the quadriporticus, from which is the entrance to the nave, separated from its aisles by sixteen columns evidently plundered from pagan buildings. Raised above the nave and protected by a low marble wall is the cancellum, preserving its ancient pavement, ambones, altar, and episcopal throne.

"In S. Clemente, built on the site of his paternal mansion, and restored at the beginning of the twelfth century, an example is still to be seen, in perfect preservation, of the primitive church; everything remains in statu quo—the court, the portico, the cancellum, the ambones, paschal candlestick, crypt, and ciborium—virgin and intact; the wooden roof has unfortunately disappeared, and a small chapel, dedicated to St. Catherine, has been added, yet even this is atoned for by the lovely frescoes of Masaccio. I most especially recommend this relic of early Christianity to your affectionate and tender admiration. Yet the beauty of S. Clemente is internal only, outwardly it is little more than a barn."—Lord Lindsay.

On the left of the side entrance is the Chapel of the Passion, clothed with frescoes of Masaccio, which, though restored, are very beautiful—over the altar is the Crucifixion, on the side walls the stories of St. Clement and St Catherine.

"The celebrated series relating to St. Catherine is still most striking in the grace and refinement of its principal figures:

"1. St. Catherine (cousin of the Emperor Constantine) refuses to worship idols.

"2. She converts the empress of Maximin. She is seen through a window seated inside a prison, and the empress is seated outside the prison, opposite to her, in a graceful listening attitude.

"3. The empress is beheaded, and her soul is carried to heaven by an angel.

"4. Catherine disputes with the pagan philosophers. She is standing in the midst of a hall, the forefinger of one hand laid on the other, as in the act of demonstrating. She is represented fair and girlish, dressed with great simplicity in a tunic and girdle,—no crown, nor any other attribute. The sages are ranged on each side, some lost in thought, others in astonishment, the tyrant (Maximin) is seen behind, as if watching the conference, while through an open window we behold the fire kindled for the converted philosophers, and the scene of their execution.

"5. Catherine is delivered from the wheels, which are broken by an angel.

"6. She is beheaded. In the background three angels lay her in a sarcophagus on the summit of Mount Sinai."—See Jameson's Sacred Art, p. 491.

"'Masaccio,' says Vasari, 'whose enthusiasm for art would not allow him to rest contentedly at Florence, resolved to go to Rome, that he might learn there to surpass every other painter.' It was during this journey, which, in fact, added much to his renown, that he painted, in the Church of San Clemente—the chapel which now so usually disappoints the expectations of the traveller, on account of the successive restorations by which his work has been disfigured.... The heavy brush which has passed over each compartment has spared neither the delicacy of the outline, the roundness of the forms, nor the play of light and shade: in a word, nothing which constitutes the peculiar merit of Masaccio."—Rio, Poetry of Christian Art.

At the end of the right aisle is the beautiful tomb of Cardinal Rovarella, ob. 1476. A statue of St. John the Baptist is by Simone, brother of Donatello. Beneath the altar repose the relics of St. Clement, St. Ignatius of Antioch—martyred in the Coliseum, St. Cyril, and St. Servulus.

"'The Fathers are in dust, yet live to God:'

So says the Truth; as if the motionless clay

Still held the seeds of life beneath the sod,

Smouldering and struggling till the judgment-day.

"And hence we learn with reverence to esteem

Of these frail houses, though the grave confines:

Sophist may urge his cunning tests, and deem

That they are earth;—but they are heavenly shrines."

J. H. Newman, 1833.

"St. Grégoire raconte que de son temps on voyait dans le vestibule de l'église Saint Clément un pauvre paralytique, priant et mendiant, sans que jamais une plainte sortît de sa bouche, malgré les vives douleurs qu'il endurait. Chaque fidèle lui donnait, et le paralytique distribuait à son tour, aux malheureux ce qu'il avait reçu de la compassion publique. Lorsqu'il mourut, son corps fut placé près de celui de Saint Clément, pape, et de Saint Ignace d'Antioche, et son nom fut inscrit au martyrologe. On le vénère dans l'Eglise sous le nom de Saint Servulus."—Une Chrétienne à Rome.

The mosaics in the tribune are well worth examination.

"There are few Christian mosaics in which mystic meaning and poetic imagination are more felicitous than in those on the apse of S. Clemente, where the crucifix, and a wide-spreading vine-tree (allusive to His words, who said 'I am the True Vine'), spring from the same stem; twelve doves, emblems of the apostles, being on the cross with the Divine Sufferer; the Mother and St. John beside it, the usual hand stretched out in glory above, with a crown; the four doctors of the Church, also other small figures, men and birds, introduced amidst the mazy vine-foliage; and at the basement, the four mystic rivers, with stags and peacocks drinking at their streams. The figure of St. Dominic is a modern addition. It seems evident, from characteristics of style, that the other mosaics here, above the apsidal arch, and at the spandrils, are more ancient, perhaps by about a century; these latter representing the Saviour in benediction, the four Evangelic emblems, St. Peter and St. Clement, St. Paul and St. Laurence seated; the two apostles designated by their names, with the Greek 'hagios' in Latin letters. The later art-work was ordered (see the Latin inscription below) in 1299, by a cardinal titular of S. Clemente, nephew to Boniface VIII.; the same who also bestowed the beautiful gothic tabernacle for the holy oils, with a relief representing the donor presented by St. Dominic to the Virgin and Child—set against the wall near the tribune, an admirable, though but an accessorial, object of mediæval art."—Hemans' Mediæval Art.

From the sacristy a staircase leads to the Lower Church (occasionally illuminated for the public) first discovered in 1857. Here, there are several pillars of the rarest marbles in perfect preservation, and a very curious series of frescoes of the eighth and ninth centuries, parts of which are still clear and almost uninjured. These include—the Crucifixion, with the Virgin and St. John standing by the cross,—the earliest example in Rome of this well-known subject; the Ascension, sometimes called by Romanists (in preparation for their dogma of 1870), "the Assumption of the Virgin," because the figure of the Virgin is elevated above the other apostles, though she is evidently intent on watching the retreating figure of her divine Son—in this fresco the figure of a pope is introduced (with the square nimbus, showing that it was painted in his lifetime), and the inscription "Sanctissimus dominus, Leo Papa Romanus," probably Leo III. or Leo IV.; the Maries at the sepulchre; the descent into Hades; the Marriage of Cana; the Funeral of St. Cyril with Pope Nicholas I. (858—67) walking in the procession; and, the most interesting of all—probably of somewhat later date, the story of S. Clemente, and that of S. Alexis, whose adventures are described in the account of his church on the Aventine. An altar of Mithras was discovered during the excavations here. Beneath this crypt is still a third structure, discovered 1867,—probably the very house of St. Clement,—(decorated with rich stucco ornament)—sometimes supposed to be the 'cavern near S. Clemente' to which the Emperor Otho III., who died at the age of twenty-two, retired in A.D. 999 with his confessor, and where he spent fourteen days in penitential retirement.

According to the Acts of the Martyrs, the Prefect Mamertinus ordered the arrest of Pope Clement, and intended to put him to death, but was deterred by a tumult of the people, who cried with one voice, "What evil has he done, or rather what good has he not done?" Clement was then condemned to exile in the Chersonese, and Mamertinus, touched by his submission and courage, dismissed him with the words—"May the God you worship bring you relief in the place of your banishment."

In his exile Clement received into the Church more than two hundred Christians who had been waiting for baptism, and miraculously discovered water for their support in a barren rock, to which he was directed by a Lamb, in whose form he recognised the guidance of the Son of God. The enthusiasm which these marvels excited led Trajan to send executioners, by whom he was tied to an anchor and thrown into the sea. But his disciples, kneeling on the shore, prayed that his relics might be given up to them, when the waves retired, and disclosed a marble chapel, built by unearthly hands—over the tomb of the saint. From the Chersonese the remains of St. Clement were brought back to Rome by St. Cyril, the Apostle of the Slavonians, who, dying here himself, was buried by his side.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE AVENTINE.

Jewish Burial-ground—Sta. Sabina—S. Alessio—The Priorato—Sta. Prisca—The Vigna dei Gesuiti—S. Sabba—Sta. Balbina.

THE Aventine, which is perhaps the highest, and now—from its coronet of convents—the most picturesque of all the Roman hills, is of irregular form, and is divided into two parts by a valley; one side, the higher, is crowned by the churches of Sta. Sabina, S. Alessio, and the Priorato, which together form "the Capitol of the Aventine;" the other, known as the Pseudo-Aventine, is marked by the churches of S. Sabba and Sta. Balbina.

Virgil and Ovid allude repeatedly to the thick woods which once clothed the Aventine.[169] Dionysius speaks of the laurels or bays, an indigenous tree of ancient Rome, which grew there in abundance. Only one side of the hill, that towards the Tiber, now shows any of the natural cliff, but it was once remarkable for its rocks, and the Pseudo-Aventine obtained the name of Saxum from a huge solitary mass of stone which surmounted it.

"Est moles nativa; loco res nomina fecit

Appellant Saxum: pars bona mentis ea est."[170]

The upper portion of the hill is of volcanic formation, and it is supposed that the legend of Cacus vomiting forth flames from his cave on the side of the Aventine had its origin in noxious sulphuric vapours emitted by the soil, as is still the case at the Solfatara on the way to Tivoli. The demi-god Faunus, who had an oracle at the Solfatara, had also an oracle on this hill.[171]

Some derive the name of Aventine from Aventinus-Silvius, king of Alba, who was buried here;[172] others from Avens, a Sabine river; while others say that the name simply means "the hill of birds," and connect it with the story of the foundation of the city. For when it became necessary to decide whether Romulus or Remus was to rule over the newly-built Rome, Romulus seated himself upon the Palatine to watch the auspices, but Remus upon the rock of the Pseudo-Aventine. Here Remus saw only six vultures, while Romulus saw twelve, but each interpreted the augury in his own favour, and Remus leapt across the boundary of the Palatine, whether in derision or war, and was slain by his brother, or by Celer, one of his followers. He was brought back and buried upon the Aventine, and the stone whence he had watched the vultures was thenceforth called the Sacred Rock. Ancient tradition places the tomb of Remus on the Pseudo-Aventine, but in the middle ages the tomb of Caius Cestus was believed—even by Petrarch—to be the monument of Remus.

Some authorities consider that when Remus was watching the vultures on the Pseudo-Aventine, that part of the hill was already occupied by a Pelasgic fortress called Romoria, but at this time and for long afterwards, the higher part of the Aventine was held by the Sabines. Here the Sabine king Numa dedicated an altar to Jupiter Elicius,[173] and the Sabine god Consus had also an altar here. Hither Numa came to visit the forest-gods Faunus and Picus at their sacred fountain:

Lucus Aventino suberat niger ilicis umbra,

Quo posses viso dicere, numen inest.

In medio gramen, muscoque adoperta virenti

Manabat saxo vena perennis aquæ.

Inde fere soli Faunus Picusque bibebant.[174]

By mingling wine and honey with the waters of their spring, Numa snared the gods, and compelled them to tell him how he might learn from Jupiter the knowledge of his will, and to reveal to him a charm against thunder and lightning.[175]

The Sabine king Tatius, the rival of Romulus, was buried on the Aventine "in a great grove of laurels," and, at his tomb, then called Armilustrum, it was the custom, every year, in the month of October, to hold a feast for the purification of arms, accompanied by martial dances. A horse was at the same time sacrificed to Janus, the Sabine war-god.[176]

Ancus Martius surrounded the Aventine by a wall,[177] and settled there many thousands of the inhabitants of Latin towns which he had subdued. This was the origin of the plebs, who were soon to become such formidable opponents of the first colonists of the Palatine, who took rank as patricians, and who at first found in them an important counterpoise to the power of the original Sabine inhabitants, against whom the little Latin colony of Romulus had hitherto been standing alone. The Aventine continued always to be the especial property and sanctuary of the plebs, the patricians avoiding it—in the first instance, it is supposed, from an impression that the hill was of evil omen, owing to the story of Remus. In B.C. 416, the tribune Icilius proposed and carried a law by which all the public lands of the Aventine were officially conferred upon the plebs, who forthwith began to cover its heights with houses, in which each family of the people had a right in one floor,—a custom which still prevails at Rome. At this time, also, the Aventine was included for the first time within the pomœrium or religious boundary of the city. Owing to its being the "hill of the people," the commons henceforth held their comitia and elected their tribunes here; and here, after the murder of Virginia, to whom the tribune Icilius had been betrothed, the army assembled against Appius Claudius.

Very little remains of the numerous temples which once adorned the hill, but their sites are tolerably well ascertained. We still ascend the Aventine by the ancient Clivus Publicius, originally paved by two brothers Publicii, who were ædiles at the same time, and had embezzled a public sum of money, which they were compelled to expend thus—

Parte locant clivum, qui tune erat ardua rupes:

Utile nunc iter est, Publiciumque vocant.[178]

At the foot of this road was the temple of Luna, or Jana, in which Tatius had also erected an altar to Janus or the Sun.

Luna regit menses; hujus quoque tempora mensis

Finit Aventino Luna colenda jugo.[179]

It was up this road that Caius Gracchus, a few hours before his death, fled to take refuge in a small Temple of Diana, which stood somewhere near the present site of S. Alessio, where, kneeling before the statue of the goddess, he implored that the people who had betrayed him might never be free. Close by, singularly enough, rose the Temple of Liberty, which his grandfather Sempronius Gracchus had built. Adjoining this temple was a hall where the archives of the censors were kept, and where they transacted business; this was rebuilt by Asinius Pollio, who added to it the first public library established in Rome.

Nec me, quæ doctis patuerunt prima libellis

Atria, Libertas tangere passa sua est.[180]

In the same group stood the famous sanctuary of Juno Regina, vowed by Camillus during the siege of Veii, and to which the Juno of the captured city was removed after she had given a verbal consent when asked whether she wished to go to Rome and inhabit a new temple, much as the modern queen of heaven is apt to do in modern times at Rome.[181] The Temples of Liberty and Juno were both rebuilt under Augustus; some imagine that they were under a common roof. If they were distinct buildings, nothing of the former remains; some beautiful columns built into the church of Sta. Sabina are all that remain of the temple of Juno, though Livy thought that her reign here would be eternal—

... in Aventinum, æternam sedem suam.[182]

Also belonging to this group was a Temple of Minerva.

Sol abit a Geminis, et Cancri signa rubescunt:

Cœpit Aventina Pallas in arce coli.[183]

Here the dramatist Livius Andronicus, who lived upon the Aventine, was honoured after his death by a company of scribes and actors. Another poet who lived upon the Aventine was Ennius, who is described as inhabiting a humble dwelling, and being attended by a single female slave. The poet Gallus also lived here.

Totis, Galle, jubes tibi me servire diebus,

Et per Aventinum ter quater ire tuum![184]

On the other side of the Aventine (above the Circus Maximus), which was originally covered with myrtle—a shrub now almost extinct at Rome—on the site now occupied by Sta. Prisca, was a more important Temple of Diana, sometimes called by the Sabine name of Murcia,—built in imitation of the temple of Diana at Ephesus. Propertius writes—

Phyllis Aventinæ quædam est vicina Dianæ;[185]

and Martial—

Quique videt propius magna certamina Circi

Laudat Aventinæ vicinus Sura Dianæ.[186]

Here till the time of Dionysius was preserved the pillar of brass on which was engraved the law of Icilius.

Near this were the groves of Simila, the retreat of the infamous association discovered and terribly punished at the time of the Greek wars; and—in the time of the empire—the gardens of Servilia, where she received the devotion of Julius Cæsar, and in which her son Brutus is said to have conspired his murder, and to have been interrogated by his wife Portia as to the mystery, which he refused to reveal to her, fearing her weakness under torture, until, by the concealment of a terrible wound which she had given to herself, she had proved to him that the daughter of Cato could suffer and be silent.

The Aventine continued to be inhabited, and even populous, until the sixth century, from which period its prosperity began to decline. In the eleventh century it was occupied by the camp of Henry IV. of Germany, when he came in war against Gregory VII. In the thirteenth century Honorius III. made a final effort to re-establish its popularity; but with each succeeding generation it has become—partly owing to the ravages of malaria—more and more deserted, till now its sole inhabitants are monks, and the few ague-stricken contadini who look after the monastic vineyards. In wandering along its desolate lanes, hemmed in by hedges of elder, or by walls covered with parasitical plants, it is difficult to realize the time when it was so thickly populated; and except in the quantities of coloured marbles with which its fields and vineyards are strewn, there is nothing to remind one of the 16 ædiculæ, 64 baths, 25 granaries, 88 fountains, 130 of the larger houses called domus, and 2487 of the poorer houses called insulæ, which occupied this site.

The present interest of the hill is almost wholly ecclesiastical, and centres around the story of St. Dominic, and the legends of the saints and martyrs connected with its different churches.

The best approach to the Aventine is behind the Church of Sta. Maria in Cosmedin, where the Via Sta. Sabina, once the Clivus Publicius (available for carriages), turns up the hill.

A lane on the left leads to the Jewish burial-ground, used as a place of sepulture for the Ghetto for many centuries. A curious instance of the cupidity attributed to the Jewish race may be seen in the fact, that they have, for a remuneration of four baiocchi, habitually given leave to their neighbours to discharge the contents of a rubbish cart into their cemetery, a permission of which the Romans have so abundantly availed themselves, that the level of the soil has been raised by many yards, and whole sets of older monuments have been completely swallowed up, and new ones erected over their heads.

After we turn the corner at the hill top, with its fine view over the Palatine, and cross the trench of fortification formed during the fear of a Garibaldian invasion in 1867, we skirt what appears to be part of a city wall. This is in fact the wall of the Honorian city, built by Pope Honorius III., of the great family of Savelli, whose idea was to render the Aventine once more the populous and favourite portion of the city, and who began great works for this purpose. Before his arrangements were completed St. Dominic arrived in Rome, and was appointed master of the papal household, and abbot of the convent of Sta. Sabina, where his ministrations and popularity soon formed such an attraction, that the pope wisely abandoned his design of founding a new city which should commemorate himself, and left the field to St. Dominic,—to whom he made over the land on this side of the hill. Henceforward the convent of Sta. Sabina and its surroundings have become, more than any other spot, connected with the history of the Dominican Order,—there, all the great saints of the Order have received their first inspiration,—have resided,—or are buried; there St. Dominic himself received in a beatific vision the institution of the rosary; there he was ordered to plant the famous orange-tree, which, being then unknown in Rome, he brought from his native Spain as the only present which it was suitable for the gratitude of a poor monk to offer to his patron Honorius, who was himself one of the great botanists of his time,—an orange-tree which still lives, and which is firmly believed by the monks to flourish or fail with the fortunes of the Order, so that it has lately been greatly the worse for the suppression of the convents in Northern Italy, though the residence of Père Lacordaire within the convent proved exceedingly beneficial to it, and his visit even caused a new sucker to sprout.

The Church of Sta. Sabina was built on the site of the house of the saint—in which she suffered martyrdom under the Emperor Hadrian,[187] in A.D. 423—by Peter, a priest of Illyria, "rich for the poor, and poor for himself" (pauperibus locuples, sibi pauper), as we read by the mosaic inscription inside the principal entrance. St. Gregory the Great read two of his homilies here. The church was rebuilt in 824, and restored and reconsecrated by Gregory IX. in 1238. Much of its interest,—ancient pavements, mosaics, &c.,—was destroyed in 1587 by Sixtus V., who took the credit of discovering the relics of the martyrs who are buried beneath the altar.

On the west is a covered corridor containing several ancient inscriptions. It is supported on one side by ancient spiral columns of pavonazzetto, on the other these have been plundered and replaced by granite. Hence, through a window, ladies are allowed to gaze upon the celebrated orange-tree, 665 years old, which they cannot approach; a rude figure of St. Dominic is sculptured upon the low wall which surrounds it. The west door, of the twelfth century, in a richly sculptured frame, is cited by Kugler as an instance of the extinction of the Byzantine influence upon art. Its panels are covered with carvings from the Old and New Testament, referred by Mamachi to the seventh, by Agincourt to the thirteenth century. Some of the subjects have been destroyed; among those which remain are the Annunciation, the Angels appearing to the Shepherds, the Angel and Zachariah in the Temple, the Magi, Moses turning the rods into serpents, the ascent of Elijah, Christ before Pilate, the denial of Peter, and the Ascension. Within the entrance are the only remains of the magnificent mosaic, erected in 431, under Celestine I., which entirely covered the west wall till the time of Sixtus V., consisting of an inscription in large letters, with a female figure on either side, that on the left bearing the name "Ecclesia cum circumcisione," that on the right, "Ecclesia ex gentibus." Among the parts destroyed were the four beasts typical of the Evangelists, and St. Peter and St. Paul. The church was thus gorgeously decorated, because in the time of the Savelli popes, it was what the Sistine is now, the Chiesa Apostolica.

The nave is lined by twenty-four Corinthian columns of white marble, relics of the temple of Juno Regina, which once stood here. Above, is an inlaid frieze of pietradura, of A.D. 431, which once extended up to the windows, but was destroyed by Sixtus V., who at the same time built up the windows which till then existed over each pier. In the middle of the pavement near the altar, is a very curious mosaic figure over the grave of Munoz de Zamora, a General of the Dominican Order, who died in 1300. Nearer the west door are interesting incised slabs representing a German bishop and a lady, benefactors of this church, and (on the left) a slab with arms in mosaic, to a lady of the Savelli family. In the left aisle is another monument of 1312, commemorating a warrior of the imperial house of Germany. The high altar covers the remains of Sabina and Seraphia, Alexander the Pope, Eventius and Theodulus, all martyrs. In the chapel beneath St. Dominic is said to have flagellated himself three times nightly, "perché uno colpo solo non abbastava per mortificare la carne."

At the end of the right aisle is the Chapel of the Rosary, where a beautiful picture of Sassoferrato, called "La Madonna del Rosario," commemorates the vision of St. Dominic on that spot, in which he received the rosary from the hands of the Virgin.

"St. Catherine of Siena kneels with St. Dominic before the throne of the Madonna; the lily at her feet. The Infant Saviour is turned towards her, and with one hand he crowns her with thorns, with the other he presents the rosary. This is the master-piece of the painter, with all his usual elegance, without his usual insipidity."—Jameson's Monastic Orders.

Few Roman Catholic practices have excited more animadversion than the "vain repetition" of the worship of the Rosary. The Père Lacordaire (a Dominican) defended it, saying—

"Le rationaliste sourit en voyant passer de longues files de gens qui redisent une même parole. Celui qui est éclairé d'une meilleure lumière comprend que l'amour n'a qu'un mot, et qu'en le disant toujours, il ne le répète jamais."

Grouped around this chapel are three beautiful tombs,—a cardinal, a bishop, and a priest of the end of the fifteenth century. That of the cardinal (which is of the well-known Roman type of the time), is inscribed "Ut moriens viveret, vixit est moriturus;" the others are incised slabs. At the other end of this aisle is a marble slab, on which St. Dominic is said to have been wont to lie prostrate in prayer. One day while he was lying thus, the Devil in his rage is said to have hurled a huge stone (a round black marble, pietra di paragone,) at him, which missed the saint, who left the attack entirely unnoticed. The devil was frantic with disappointment, and the stone, remaining as a relic, is preserved on a low pillar in the nave. A small gothic ciborium, richly inlaid with mosaic, remains on the left of the tribune.

Opening from the left aisle is a chapel built by Elic of Tuscany—very rich in precious marbles. The frame of the panel on the left is said to be unique.

It was in this church, in 1218, that St. Hyacinth, struck by the preaching of St. Dominic, and by the recollection of the barbarism, heathenism, and ignorance which prevailed in many parts of his native land of Silesia, offered himself as its missionary, and took the vows of the Dominican Order, together with his cousin St. Ceslas. Hither fled to the monastic life St. Thomas Aquinas, pursued to the very door of the convent by the tears and outcries of his mother, who vainly implored him to return to her. One evening, a pilgrim, worn out with travel and fatigue, arrived at the door of this convent mounted upon a wretched mule, and implored admittance. The prior in mockery asked, "What are you come for, my father? are you come to see if the college of cardinals is disposed to elect you as pope?" "I come to Rome," replied the pilgrim Michele Ghislieri, "because the interests of the Church require it, and I shall leave as soon as my task is accomplished; meanwhile I implore you to give me a brief hospitality and a little hay for my mule." Sixteen years afterwards Ghislieri mounted the papal throne as Pius V., and proved, during a troubled reign, the most rigid follower and eager defender of the institutions of St. Dominic. One day as Ghislieri was about to kiss his crucifix in the eagerness of prayer, "the image of Christ," says the legend, retired of its own accord from his touch, for it had been poisoned by an enemy, and a kiss would have been death. This crucifix is now preserved as a precious relic in the convent, where the cells both of St. Dominic and of St. Pius V. are preserved, though, like most historical chambers of Roman saints, their interest is lessened by their having been beautified and changed into chapels. In the cell of St. Dominic is a portrait by Bazzani, founded on the records of his personal appearance; the lily lies by his side,—the glory hovers over his head,—he is, as the chronicler describes him, "of amazing beauty." In this cell he is said frequently to have passed the night in prayer with his rival St. Francis of Assisi. The refectory is connected with another story of St. Dominic:—

"It happened that when he was residing with forty of his friars in the convent of Sta. Sabina at Rome, the brothers who had been sent to beg for provisions had returned with a very small quantity of bread, and they knew not what they should do, for night was at hand, and they had not eaten all day. Then St. Dominic ordered that they should seat themselves in the refectory, and, taking his place at the head of the table, he pronounced the usual blessing: and behold! two beautiful youths clad in white and shining garments appeared amongst them; one carried a basket of bread, and the other a pitcher of wine, which they distributed to the brethren: then they disappeared, and no one knew how they had come in, nor how they had gone out. And the brethren sat in amazement; but St. Dominic stretched forth his hand, and said calmly, 'My children, eat what God hath sent you:' and it was truly celestial food, such as they had never tasted before nor since."—Jameson's Monastic Orders, p. 369.

Other saints who sojourned for a time in this convent were St. Norbert, founder of the Premonstratensians (ob. 1134), and St. Raymond de Penaforte (ob. 1275), who left his labours in Barcelona for a time in 1230 to act as chaplain to Gregory IX.

In 1287 a conclave was held at Sta. Sabina for the election of a successor to Pope Martin IV., but was broken up by the malaria, six cardinals dying at once within the convent, and all the rest taking flight except Cardinal Savelli, who would not desert his paternal home, and survived by keeping large fires constantly burning in his chamber. Ten months afterwards his perseverance was rewarded by his own election to the throne as Honorius IV.

In the garden of the convent are some small remains of the palace of the Savelli pope, Honorius III. Here, on the declivity of the Aventine, many important excavations were made in 1856—57, by the French Prior Besson, a person of great intelligence, and he was rewarded by the discovery of an ancient Roman house—its chambers paved with black and white mosaic, and some fine fragments of the wall of Servius Tullius, formed of gigantic blocks of peperino. In the chambers which were found decorated in stucco with remnants of painting in figures and arabesque ornaments, "one little group represented a sacrifice before the statue of a god, in an ædicula. Some rudely scratched Latin lines on this surface led to the inference that this chamber, after becoming subterranean and otherwise uninhabitable, had served for a prison; one unfortunate inmate having inscribed curses against those who caused his loss of liberty; and another, more devout, left record of his vows to sacrifice to Bacchus in case of recovering that blessing."[188]

Since the death of Prior Besson[189] the works have been abandoned, and the remains already discovered have been for the most part earthed up again. A nympheum, a well, and several subterranean passages, are still visible on the hillside.

Just beyond Sta. Sabina is the Hieronymite Church and Convent of S. Alessio, the only monastery of Hieronymites in Italy where meat was allowed to be eaten,—in consideration of the malaria. The first church erected here was built in A.D. 305 in honour of St. Boniface, martyr, by Aglae, a noble Roman lady, whose servant (and lover) he had been. It was reconsecrated in A.D. 401 by Innocent I., in honour of St. Alexis, whose paternal mansion was on this site. This saint, young and beautiful, took a vow of virginity, and being forced by his parents into marriage, fled on the same evening from his home, and was given up as lost. Worn out and utterly changed he returned many years afterwards to be near those who were dear to him, and remained, unrecognised, as a poor beggar, under the stairs which led to his father's house. Seventeen years passed away, when a mysterious voice suddenly echoed through the Roman churches, crying, "Seek ye out the man of God, that he may pray for Rome." The crowd was stricken with amazement,—when the same voice continued, "Seek in the house of Euphemian." Then, pope, emperor, and senators rushed together to the Aventine, where they found the despised beggar dying beneath the doorstep, with his countenance beaming with celestial light, a crucifix in one hand, and a sealed paper in the other. Vainly the people strove to draw the paper from the fingers which were closing in the gripe of death, but when Innocent I. bade the dying man in God's name to give it up, they opened, and the pope read aloud to the astonished multitude the secret of Alexis; and his father Euphemian and his widowed bride, regained in death the son and the husband they had lost.

S. Alessio is entered through a courtyard.

"The courtyards in front of S. Alessio, Sta. Cecilia, S. Gregorio, and other churches, are like the vestibula of the ancient Roman houses, on the site of which they were probably built. This style of building, says Tacitus, was generally introduced by Nero. Beyond opened the prothyra, or inner entrance, with the cellæ for the porter and dog, both chained, on either side."

In the portico of the church is a statue of Benedict XIII. (Pietro Orsini, 1724). The west door has a rich border of mosaic. The church has been so much modernised as to retain no appearance of antiquity. The fine Opus-Alexandrinum pavement is preserved. In the floor is the incised gothic monument of Lupi di Olmeto, General of the Hieronymites (ob. 1433). Left of the entrance is a shrine of S. Alessio, with his figure sleeping under the staircase—part of the actual wooden stairs being enclosed in a glass case over his head. Not far from this is the ancient well of his father's house. In a chapel which opens out of a passage leading to the sacristy is the fine tomb of Cardinal Guido di Balneo, of the time of Leo X. He is represented sitting, with one hand resting on the ground—the delicate execution of his lace in marble is much admired. The mosaic roof of this chapel was burst open by a cannon-ball during the French bombardment of 1849, but the figure was uninjured. The baldacchino (well known from Macpherson's photographs) is remarkable for its perfect proportions. Behind, in the tribune, are the inlaid mosaic pillars of a gothic tabernacle. No one should omit to descend into the Crypt of S. Alessio, which is an early church, supported on stunted pillars, and containing a marble episcopal chair, green with age. Here the pope used to meet the early conclaves of the Church in times of persecution. The pillar under the altar is shown as that to which St. Sebastian was bound when he was shot with the arrows.

The cloister of the convent, from which ladies are excluded, blooms with orange and lemon trees. There are only six Hieronymite brethren here now. The convent was at one time purchased by the ex-king Ferdinand of Spain, who intended turning it into a villa for himself.

A short distance beyond S. Alessio is a sort of little square, adorned with trophied memorials of the knights of Malta, and occupying the site of the laurel grove (Armilustrum) which contained the tomb of Tatius. Here is the entrance of the Priorato garden, where is the famous View of St. Peter's through the Keyhole, admired by crowds of people on Ash-Wednesday, when the "stazione" is held at the neighbouring churches. Entering the garden (which can always be visited) we find ourselves in a beautiful avenue of old bay-trees framing the distant St. Peter's. A terrace overhanging the Tiber has an enchanting view over the river and town. In the garden is an old pepper-tree, and in a little court a picturesque palm-tree and well. From hence we can enter the church, sometimes called S. Basilio, sometimes Sta. Maria Aventina, an ancient building modernized by Cardinal Rezzonico in 1765, from the very indifferent designs of Piranesi. It contains an interesting collection of tombs, most of them belonging to the Knights of Malta; that of Bishop Spinelli is an ancient marble sarcophagus, with a relief of Minerva and the Muses. A richly sculptured ancient altar contains relics of saints found beneath the pavement of the church.

The Priorato garden, so beautiful and attractive in itself, has an additional interest as that in which the famous Hildebrand (Gregory VII., 1073—80) was brought up as a boy, under the care of his uncle, who was abbot of the adjoining monastery. A massive cornice in these grounds is one of the few architectural fragments of ancient Rome existing on the Aventine. It may perhaps have belonged to the smaller temple of Diana in which Caius Gracchus took refuge, and in escaping from which, down the steep hillside, he sprained his ankle, and so was taken by his pursuers. Some buried houses were discovered and some precious vases brought to light, when Urban VIII. built the stately buttress walls which now support the hillside beyond the Priorato.

The cliff below these convents is the supposed site of the cave of the giant Cacus, described by Virgil.

"At specus et Caci detecta apparuit ingens

Regia, et umbrosæ penitus patuere cavernæ;

Non secus, ac si quâ penitus vi terra dehiscens

Infernas reseret sedes, et regna recludat

Pallida, dîs invisa; superque immane barathrum

Cernatur, trepidentque immisso lumine manes."

Æneid, lib. viii.

Hercules brought the oxen of Geryon to pasture in the valley between the Aventine and Palatine. Cacus issuing from his cave while their owner was asleep, carried off four of the bulls, dragging them up the steep side of the hill by their tails, that Hercules might be deceived by their foot-prints being reversed. Then he concealed them in his cavern, and barred the entrance with a rock. Hercules sought the stolen oxen everywhere, and when he could not find them, he was going away with the remainder. But as he drove them along the valley near the Tiber one of his oxen lowed, and when the stolen oxen in the cave heard that, they answered; and Hercules, after rushing three times round the Aventine boiling with fury, shattered the stone which guarded the entrance of the cave with a mass of rock, and, though the giant vomited forth smoke and flames against him, he strangled him in his arms. Thus runs the legend, which is explained by Ampère.

"Cacus habite une caverne de l'Aventin, montagne en tout temps mal famée, montagne anciennement hérissée de rochers et couverte de forêts, dont la forêt Nœvia, longtemps elle-même un repaire de bandits, était une dépendance et fut un reste qui subsista dans les temps historiques. Ce Cacus était sans doute un brigand célèbre, dangereux pour les pâtres du voisinage dont il volait les troupeaux quand ils allaient paître dans les prés situés au bord du Tibre et boire l'eau du fleuve. Les hauts faits de Cacus lui avaient donné cette célébrité qui, parmi les paysans romains, s'attache encore à ses pareils, et surtout le stratagème employé par lui probablement plus d'une fois pour dérouter les bouviers des environs, en emmenant les animaux qu'il dérobait, à manière de cacher la direction de leurs pas. La caverne du bandit avait été découverte et forcée par quelque pâtre courageux, qui y avait pénétré vaillamment, malgré la terreur que ce lieu souterrain et formidable inspirait, y avait surpris le voleur et l'avait étranglé.

"Tel était, je crois, le récit primitif où il n'était pas plus question d'Hercule que de Vulcain, et dans lequel Cacus n'était pas mis à mort par un demi-dieu, mais par un certain Recaranus, pâtre vigoureux et de grande taille. A ces récits de bergers, qui allaient toujours exagérant les horreurs de l'antre de Cacus et la résistance désespérée de celui-ci, vinrent se mêler peu à peu des circonstances merveilleuses."—Hist. Rom. i. 170.

We must retrace our steps, as far as the summit of the hill towards the Palatine, and then turn to the right in order to reach the ugly obscure-looking Church of Sta. Prisca, founded by Pope Eutychianus in A.D. 280, but entirely modernised by Cardinal Giustiniani from designs of Carlo Lombardi, who encased its fine granite columns in miserable stucco pilasters. Over the high altar is a picture by Passignano of the baptism of the saint, which is said to have taken place in the ancient crypt beneath the church, where an inverted Corinthian capital,—a relic of the temple of Diana which once occupied this site,—is shown as the font in which Sta. Prisca was baptized by St. Peter.

Opening from the right aisle is a kind of terraced loggia with a peculiar and beautiful view. In the adjoining vineyard are three arches of an aqueduct.

"According to the old tradition, this church stands on the site of the house of Aquila and Priscilla, where St. Peter lodged when at Rome, and who are the same mentioned by St. Paul as tent-makers; and here is shown the font, from which, according to the same tradition, St. Peter baptized the first Roman converts to Christianity. The altar-piece represents the baptism of Sta. Prisca, whose remains being afterwards placed in the church, it has since borne her name. According to the legend, she was a Roman virgin of illustrious birth, who, at the age of thirteen, was exposed in the amphitheatre. A fierce lion was let loose upon her, but her youth and innocence disarmed the fury of the savage beast, which, instead of tearing her to pieces, humbly licked her feet;—to the great consolation of Christians, and the confusion of idolaters. Being led back to prison, she was there beheaded. Sometimes she is represented with a lion, sometimes with an eagle, because it is related that an eagle watched by her body till it was laid in the grave; for thus, says the story, was virgin innocence honoured by kingly bird as well as by kingly beast."—Mrs. Jameson.

Opposite the door of this church is the entrance of the Vigna dei Gesuiti, a wild and beautiful vineyard occupying the greater part of this deserted hill, and extending as far as the Porta S. Paolo and the pyramid of Caius Cestius. Several farm-houses are scattered amongst the vines and fruit trees. There are beautiful views towards the Alban mountains, and to the Pseudo-Aventine with its fortress-like convents. The ground is littered with fragments of marbles and alabaster, which lie unheeded among the vegetables, relics of unknown edifices which once existed here. Just where the path in the vineyard descends a slight declivity towards S. Paolo, are the finest existing remains of the Walls of Servius Tullius,[190] formed of large quadrilateral blocks of tufa, laid alternately long and cross-ways, as in the Etruscan buildings. The spot is beautiful, and overgrown by a luxuriance of wild mignonette and other flowers in the late spring.

Descending to the valley beneath Sta. Prisca, and crossing the lane which leads from the Via Appia to the Porta S. Paolo, we reach, on the side of the Pseudo-Aventine, the Church of S. Sabba, which is supposed to mark the site of the Porta Randusculana of the walls of Servius Tullius. Its position is very striking, and its portico, built in A.D. 1200, is picturesque and curious.

This church is of unknown origin, but is known to have existed in the time of St. Gregory the Great, and to have been one of the fourteen privileged abbacies of Rome. Its patron saint was St. Sabbas, an abbot of Cappadocia, who died at Jerusalem in A.D. 532.

"The record of the artist Jacobus dei Cosmati, dated the third year of Innocent III. (1205), on the lintel of the mosaic-inlaid doorway, justifies us in classing this church among monuments of the thirteenth century. From its origin a Greek monastery, it was assigned by Lucius II., in 1141, to the Benedictines of the Cluny rule. An epigraph near the sacristy mentions a rebuilding either of the cloisters or church, in 1325, by an abbot Joannes; and in 1465 the roof was renewed in woodwork by a cardinal, the nephew of Pius II.

"In 1512 the Cistercians of Clairvaux were located here by Julius II.; and some years later these buildings were given to the Germanic-Hungarian College. Amidst gardens and vineyards, approached by a solitary lane between hedgerows, this now deserted sanctuary has a certain affecting character in its forlornness. Save on Thursdays, when the German students are brought hither by their Jesuit professors to enliven the solitude by their sports and converse, we might never succeed in finding entrance to this quiet retreat of the monks of old.

"Within the arched porch, through which we pass into an outer court, we read an inscription telling that here stood the house and oratory (called cella nova) of Sta. Sylvia, mother of St. Gregory the Great, whence the pious matron used daily to send a porridge of legumes to her son, while he inhabited his monastery on the Clivus Scauri, or northern ascent of the Cœlian. Within that court formerly stood the cloistral buildings, of which little now remains. The façade is remarkable for its atrium in two stories: the upper with a pillared arcade, probably of the fifteenth century; the lower formerly supported by six porphyry columns, removed by Pius VI. to adorn the Vatican library, where they still stand. The porphyry statuettes of two emperors embracing, supposed either an emblem of the concord between the East and West, or the intended portraits of the co-reigning Constantine II. and Constans—a curious example of sculpture in its deep decline, and probably imported by Greek monks from Constantinople—project from two of those ancient columns."—Hemans' Mediæval Art.

The interior of St. Sabba is in the basilica form. It retains some fragments of inlaid pavements, some handsome inlaid marble panels on either side of the high altar, and an ancient sarcophagus. The tribune has rude paintings of the fourteenth century—the Saviour between St. Andrew and St. Sabbas the Abbot; and below the Crucifixion, the Madonna and the twelve Apostles. Beneath the tribune is a crypt,—and over its altar a beautifully ornamented disk with a Greek cross in the centre.

Behind St. Sabbas is another delightful vineyard, but it is difficult to gain admittance. Here Flaminius Vacca describes the discovery of a mysterious chamber without door or window, whose pavement was of agate and cornelian, and whose walls were plated with gilt copper; but of this nothing remains.[191]

To reach the remaining church of the Aventine, we have to turn to the Via Appia, and then follow the lane which leads up the hillside from the Baths of Caracalla to the Church of Sta. Balbina, whose picturesque red brick tower forms so conspicuous a feature, as seen against the long soft lines of the flat Campagna, in so many Roman views. It was erected in memory of Sta. Balbina, a virgin martyr (buried in Sta. Maria in Domenica), who suffered under Hadrian, A.D. 132. It contains the remains of an altar erected by Cardinal Barbo, in the old basilica of St. Peter's, a splendid ancient throne of marble inlaid with mosaics, and a fine tomb of Stefano Sordi, supporting a recumbent figure, and adorned with mosaics by one of the Cosmati.

Adjoining this church Monsignor de Mérode established a house of correction for youthful offenders, to avert the moral result of exposing them to communication with other prisoners.

CHAPTER IX.

THE VIA APPIA.

The Porta Capena—Baths of Caracalla—Vigna Guidi—SS. Nereo ed Achilleo—SS. Sisto e Domenico—S. Cesareo (S. Giovanni in Oleo—S. Giovanni in Porta Latina)—Columbarium of the Freedmen of Octavia—Tomb of the Scipios—Columbarium of the Vigna Codini—Arch of Drusus—Porta S. Sebastiano—Tombs of Geta and Priscilla—Church of Domine Quo Vadis (Vigna Marancia)—Catacombs of S. Calixtus, of S. Pretextatus, of the Jews, and SS. Nereo ed Achilleo—(Temple of Bacchus, i.e. S. Urbano—Grotto of Egeria—Temple of Divus Rediculus)—Basilica and Catacombs of S. Sebastiano—Circus of Maxentius—Temple of Romulus, son of Maxentius—Tomb of Cecilia Metella—Castle of the Caetani—Tombs of the Via Appia—Sta. Maria Nuova—Roma Vecchia—Casale Rotondo—Tor di Selce, &c.

THE Via Appia, called Regina Viarum by Statius, was begun B.C. 312, by the Censor Appius Claudius the Blind, "the most illustrious of the great Sabine and Patrician race, of whom he was the most remarkable representative." It was paved throughout, and during the first part of its course served as a kind of patrician cemetery, being bordered by a magnificent avenue of family tombs. It began at the Porta Capena, itself crossed by the Claudian aqueduct, which was due to the same great benefactor,—

"Substitit ad veteres arcus madidamque Capenam,"

and was carried by Claudius across the Pontine Marshes as far as Capua, but afterwards extended to Brundusium.

The site of the Porta Capena, so important as marking the commencement of the Appian Way, was long a disputed subject. The Roman antiquaries maintained that it was outside the present Walls, basing their opinion on the statement of St. Gregory, that the river Almo was in that Regio, and considering the Almo identical with a small stream which is crossed in the hollow about half a mile beyond the Porta S. Sebastiano, and which passes through the Valle Caffarelle, and falls into the Tiber near S. Paolo. This stream, however, which rises at the foot of the Alban Hills below the lake, divides into two parts about six miles from Rome, and its smaller division, after flowing close to the Porta San Giovanni, recedes again into the country, enters Rome near the Porta Metronia, a little behind the Church of S. Sisto, and passing through the Circus Maximus, falls into the Tiber at the Pulchrum Littus, below the temple of Vesta. Close to the point where this, the smaller branch of the Almo, crosses the Via San Sebastiano, Mr. J. H. Parker, in 1868—69, discovered some remains, on the original line of walls, which he has identified, beyond doubt, as those of the Porta Capena, whose position had been already proved by Ampère and other authorities.

Close to the Porta Capena stood a large group of historical buildings, of which no trace remains. On the right of the gate was the temple of Mars:

"Lux eadem Marti festa est; quem prospicit extra

Appositum Tectæ Porta Capena viæ."

Ovid, Fast. vi. 191.

It is probably in allusion to this temple that Propertius says:

"Armaque quum tulero portæ votiva Capenæ,

Subscribam, salvo grata puella viro."

Prop. iv. Eleg. 3.

Martial alludes to a little temple of Hercules near this:

"Capena grandi porta qua pluit gutta,

Phrygiæque Matris Almo qua lavat ferrum,

Horatiorum qua viret sacer campus,

Et qua pusilli fervet Herculis fanum."

Mart. iii. Ep. 47.

Near the gate also stood the tomb of the murdered sister of the Horatii,[192] with the temples of Honour and Virtue, vowed by Marcellus and dedicated by his son,[193] and a fountain, dedicated to Mercury:

"Est aqua Mercurii portæ vicina Capenæ;

Si juvat expertis credere, numen habet.

Huc venit incinctus tunicas mercator, et urna

Purus suffita, quam ferat, haurit aquam.

Uda fit hinc laurus: lauro sparguntur ab uda

Omnia, quæ dominos sunt habitura novos."

Ovid, Fast. v. 673.

It was at the Porta Capena that the survivor of the Horatii met his sister.

"Horatius went home at the head of the army, bearing his triple spoils. But as they were drawing near to the Capenian gate, his sister came out to meet him. Now she had been betrothed in marriage to one of the Curiatii, and his cloak, which she had wrought with her own hands, was borne on the shoulders of her brother; and she knew it, and cried aloud, and wept for him she had loved. At the sight of her tears Horatius was so wrath that he drew his sword, and stabbed his sister to the heart; and he said, 'So perish the Roman maiden who shall weep for her country's enemy!'"—Arnold's Hist. of Rome, i. 16.

Among the many other historical scenes with which the Porta Capena is connected, we may remember that it was here that Cicero was received in triumph by the senate and people of Rome, upon his return from banishment B.C. 57.

Two roads lead to the Via S. Sebastiano, one the Via S. Gregorio, which comes from the Coliseum beneath the arch of Constantine; the other, the street which comes from the Ghetto, through the Circus Maximus, between the Palatine and Aventine.

The first gate on the left, after the junction of these roads, is that of the vineyard of the monks of S. Gregorio, in which the site of the Porta Capena was found. The remains discovered have been reburied, owing to the indifference or jealousy of the government; but the vineyard is worth entering on account of the picturesque view it possesses of the Palace of the Cæsars.

On the right, a lane leads up the Pseudo-Aventine to the Church of Sta. Balbina, described Chap. VIII.

On the left, where the Via Appia crosses the brook of the Almo, now called Maranna, the Via di San Sisto Vecchio leads to the back of the Cœlian behind S. Stefano Rotondo. Here, in the hollow, in the grounds of the Villa Mattei, under some picturesque farm-buildings, is a spring which modern archæology has determined to be the true Fountain of Egeria, where Numa Pompilius is described as having his mysterious meetings with the nymph Egeria. The locality of this fountain was verified when that of the Porta Capena was ascertained, as it was certain that it was in the immediate neighbourhood of that gate, from a passage in the 3d Satire of Juvenal, which describes, that when he was waiting at the Porta Capena with Umbritius while the waggon was loading for his departure to Cumæ, they rambled into the valley of Egeria, and Umbritius said, after speaking of his motives for leaving Rome, "I could add other reasons to these, but my beasts summon me to move on, and the sun is setting. I must be going, for the muleteer has long been summoning me by the cracking of his whip."

To this valley the oppressed race of the Jews was confined by Domitian, their furniture consisting of a basket and a wisp of hay:

"Nunc sacri fontis nemus et delubra locantur

Judæis, quorum cophinus fœnumque supellex."

Juvenal, Sat. iii. 13.

On the right, are the Baths of Caracalla, the largest mass of ruins in Rome, except the Coliseum; consisting for the most part of huge shapeless walls of red and orange-coloured brickwork, framing vast strips of blue sky, and tufted with shrubs and flowers. These baths, which could accommodate 1600 bathers at once, were begun in A.D. 212, by Caracalla, continued by Heliogabalus, and finished under Alexander Severus. They covered a space of 2,625,000 square yards—a size which made Ammianus Marcellinus say that the Roman baths were like provinces—and they were supplied with water by the Antonine Aqueduct, which was brought hither for that especial purpose from the Claudian, over the Arch of Drusus.

Antiquaries have amused themselves by identifying different chambers, to which, with considerable uncertainty, the names of Calidarium, Laconicum, Tepidarium, Frigidarium, &c., have been affixed.

The habits of luxury and inertion which were introduced with the magnificent baths of the emperors were among the principal causes of the decline and fall of Rome. Thousands of the Roman youth frittered away their hours in these magnificent halls, which were provided with everything which could gratify the senses. Poets were wont to recite their verses to those who were reclining in the baths.

——"In medio qui

Scripta foro recitent, sunt multi,—quique lavantes:

Suave locus voci resonat conclusus."

Horace, Sat. i. 4.

"These Thermæ of Caracalla, which were one mile in circumference, and open at stated hours for the indiscriminate service of the senators and the people, contained above sixteen hundred seats of marble. The walls of the lofty apartments were covered with curious mosaics that imitated the art of the pencil in elegance of design and in the variety of their colours. The Egyptian granite was beautifully encrusted with the precious green marble of Numidia. The perpetual stream of hot water was poured into the capacious basons through so many wide mouths of bright and massy silver; and the meanest Roman could purchase, with a small copper coin, the daily enjoyment of a scene of pomp and luxury which might excite the envy of the kings of Asia. From these stately palaces issued forth a swarm of dirty and ragged plebeians, without shoes and without mantle; who loitered away whole days in the street or Forum, to hear news and to hold disputes; who dissipated, in extravagant gaming, the miserable pittance of their wives and children; and spent the hours of the night in the indulgence of gross and vulgar sensuality."—Gibbon.

In the first great hall was found, in 1824, the immense mosaic pavement of the pugilists, now in the Lateran museum. Endless works of art have been discovered here from time to time, among them the best of the Farnese collection of statues,—the Bull, the Hercules, and the Flora,—which were dug up in 1534, when Paul III. carried off all the still remaining marble decorations of the baths to use for the Farnese Palace. The last of the pillars to be removed from hence is that which supports the statue of Justice in the Piazza Sta. Trinità at Florence.

A winding stair leads to the top of the walls, which are worth ascending, as well for the idea which you there receive of the vast size of the ruins, as for the lovely views of the Campagna, which are obtained between the bushes of lentiscus and phillyrea with which they are fringed. It was seated on these walls that Shelley wrote his "Prometheus Unbound."

"This poem was chiefly written upon the mountainous ruins of the baths of Caracalla, among the flowery glades and thickets of odoriferous blossoming trees which are extended in ever-winding labyrinths upon its immense platforms and dizzy arches suspended in the air. The bright blue sky of Rome, and the effect of the vigorous awakening spring in that divinest climate, and the new life with which it drenches the spirits even to intoxication, were the inspiration of the drama."—Preface to the Prometheus.

"Maintenant les murailles sont nues, sauf quelques fragments de chapiteaux oubliés par la destruction; mais elles conservent ce que seules des mains de géant pourraient leur ôter, leur masse écrasante, la grandeur de leurs aspects, la sublimité de leurs ruines. On ne regrette rien quand on contemple ces énormes et pittoresque débris, baignés à midi par une ardente lumière ou se remplissant d'ombres à la tombée de la nuit, s'élançant, à une immense hauteur vers un ciel éblouissant, ou se dressant, mornes et mélancoliques, sous un ciel grisâtre,—ou bien, lorsque, montant sur la plate-forme inégale, crevassée, couverte d'arbustes et tapissée de gazon, on voit, comme du haut d'une colline, d'un côté se dérouler la campagne romaine et le merveilleux horizon de montagnes qui la termine, de l'autre apparaître, ainsi qu'une montagne de plus, le dôme de Saint-Pierre, la seule des œuvres d'homme qui ait quelque chose de la grandeur des œuvres de Dieu."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 286.

The name of the lane which leads to the baths (Via all' Antoniana) recalls the fact that, "with a vanity which seems like mockery, Caracalla dared to bear the name of Antoninus," which was always dear to the Roman people.

Passing under the wall of the government-garden for raising shrubs for the public walks, a door on the left of the Via Appia, with a sculptured marble frieze above it, is that of Guidi, the antiquity vendor, who has a small museum here of splendid fragments of marble and alabaster for sale. Opposite is the Vigna of Signor Guidi, who has unearthed a splendid mosaic pavement of Tritons riding on dolphins, and who has here also a collection of antique fragments to be disposed of.

On the right, is SS. Nereo ed Achilleo, a most interesting little church. The tradition runs that St. Peter, going to execution, let drop here one of the bandages of his wounds, and that the spot was marked by the early Christians with an oratory, which bore the name of Fasciola. Nereus and Achilles, eunuchs in the service of Clemens Flavius and Flavia Domitilla (members of the imperial family exiled to Pontia under Diocletian), having suffered martyrdom at Terracina, their bodies were transported here in 524 by John I., when the oratory was enlarged into a church, which was restored under Leo III., in 795. The church was rebuilt in the sixteenth century, by Cardinal Baronius, who took his title from hence. In his work he desired that the ancient basilica character should be carefully carried out, and all the ancient ornaments of the church were preserved and re-erected. His anxiety that his successors should not meddle with or injure these objects of antiquity is shown by, the inscription on a marble slab in the tribune:

"Presbyter, Card. Successor quisquis fueris, rogo te, per gloriam Dei, et per merita horum martyrum, nihil demito, nihil minuito, nec mutato; restitutam antiquitatem pie servato; sic Deus martyrum suorum precibus semper adjuvet!"

The chancel is raised and surrounded by an inlaid marble screen. Instead of ambones there are two plain marble reading-desks for the epistle and gospel. The altar is inlaid, and has "transennæ," or a marble grating, through which the tomb of the saints Nereus and Achilles may be seen, and through which the faithful might pass their handkerchiefs to touch it. Behind, in the semicircular choir, is an ancient episcopal throne, supported by lions, and ending in a gothic gable. Upon it part of the twenty-eighth homily of St. Gregory was engraved by Baronius, under the impression that it was delivered thence,—though it was really first read in the catacomb, whence the bodies of the saints were not yet removed. All these decorations are of the restoration under Leo III., in the eighth century. Of the same period are the mosaics on the arch of the tribune (partly painted over in later times), representing, in the centre, the Transfiguration (the earliest instance of the subject being treated in art), with the Annunciation on one side, and the Madonna and Child attended by angels on the other.

It is worth while remarking that when the relics of Flavia Domitilla (who was niece of Vespasian) and of Nereus and Achilles were brought hither from the catacomb on the Via Ardeatina, which bears the name of the latter, they were first escorted in triumph to the Capitol, and made to pass under the imperial arches which bore as inscriptions: "The senate and the Roman people to Sta. Flavia Domitilla, for having brought more honour to Rome by her death than her illustrious relations by their works." ... "To Sta. Flavia Domitilla, and to the Saints Nereus and Achilles, the excellent citizens who gained peace for the Christian republic at the price of their blood."

Opposite, on the left, is a courtyard leading to the Church of S. Sisto, with its celebrated convent, long deserted on account of malaria.

It was here that St. Dominic first resided in Rome, and collected one hundred monks under his rule, before he was removed to Sta. Sabina by Honorius III. After he went to the Aventine, it was decided to utilize this convent by collecting here the various Dominican nuns, who had been living hitherto under very lax discipline, and allowed to leave their convents, and reside in their own families. The nuns of Sta. Maria in Trastevere resisted the order, and only consented to remove on condition of bringing with them a Madonna picture attributed to St. Luke, hoping that the Trasteverini would refuse to part with their most cherished treasure. St. Dominic obviated the difficulty by going to fetch the picture himself at night, attended by two cardinals, and a bare-footed, torch-bearing multitude.

"On Ash-Wednesday, 1218, the abbess and some of her nuns went to take possession of their new monastery, and being in the chapter-house with St. Dominic and Cardinal Stefano di Fossa Nuova, suddenly there came in one tearing his hair, and making great outcries, for the young Lord Napoleon Orsini, nephew of the cardinal, had been thrown from his horse, and killed on the spot. The cardinal fell speechless into the arms of Dominic, and the women and others who were present were filled with grief and horror. They brought the body of the youth into the chapter-house, and laid it before the altar; and Dominic, having prayed, turned to it, saying, 'O adolescens Napoleo, in nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi tibi dico surge,' and thereupon he arose sound and whole, to the unspeakable wonder of all present."—Jameson's Monastic Orders.

After being convinced by this miracle of the divine mission of St. Dominic, forty nuns settled at S. Sisto, promising never more to cross its threshold.[194]

There is very little remaining of the ancient S. Sisto, except the campanile, which is of 1500. But the vaulted Chapter-House, now dedicated to St. Dominic, is well worth visiting. It has recently been covered with frescoes by the Padre Besson,—himself a Dominican monk,—who received his commission from Father Mullooly, Prior of S. Clemente, the Irish Dominican convent, to which S. Sisto is now annexed. The three principal frescoes represent three miracles of St. Dominic—in each case of raising from the dead. One represents the resuscitation of a mason of the new monastery, who had fallen from a scaffold; another, that of a child in a wild and beautiful Italian landscape; the third, the restoration of Napoleone Orsini on this spot,—the mesmeric upspringing of the lifeless youth being most powerfully represented. The whole chapel is highly picturesque, and effective in colour. Of two inscriptions, one commemorates the raising of Orsini; the other, a prophecy of St. Dominic, as to the evil end of two monks who deserted their convent.

Just beyond S. Sisto, where the Via della Ferratella branches off on the left to the Lateran, stands a small ædiculum, or Shrine of the Lares, with brick niches for statues.

Further, on the right, standing back from a kind of piazza, adorned with an ancient granite column, is the Church of S. Cesareo, which already existed in the time of St. Gregory the Great, but was modernized under Clement VII. (1523—34). Its interior retains many of its ancient features. The pulpit is one of the most exquisite specimens of church decoration in Rome, and is covered with the most delicate sculpture, interspersed with mosaic; the emblems of the Evangelists are introduced in the carving of the panels. The high altar is richly encrusted with mosaics, probably by the Cosmati family; tiny owls form part of the decorations of the capitals of its pillars. Beneath is a "confession," where two angels are drawing curtains over the tomb of the saint. The chancel has an inlaid marble screen. In the tribune is an ancient episcopal throne, once richly ornamented with mosaics.

In this church St. Sergius was elected to the papal throne, in 687; and here, also, an Abbot of SS. Vincenzo ed Anastasio was elected in 1145, as Eugenius III., and was immediately afterwards forced by the opposing senate to fly to Montecelli, and then to the Abbey of Farfa, where his consecration took place.

Part of the palace of the titular cardinal of S. Cesareo remains in the adjoining garden, with an interesting loggia of c. 1200.

In this neighbourhood was the Piscina Publica, which gave a name to the twelfth Region of the city. It was used for learning to swim, but all trace of it had disappeared before the time of Festus, whose date is uncertain, but who lived before the end of the fourth century—

"In thermas fugio: sonas ad aurem,

Piscinam peto: non licet natare."

Martial, iii. Ep. 44.

Here a lane turns on the left, towards the ancient Porta Latina (through which the Via Latina led to Capua), now closed.

In front of the gate is a little chapel, of the sixteenth century, called S. Giovanni in Oleo, decorated with indifferent frescoes, on the spot where St. John is said to have been thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil (under Domitian), from which "he came forth as from a refreshing bath." It is the suffering in the burning oil which gave St. John the palm of a martyr, with which he is often represented in art. The festival of "St. John ante Port. Lat." (May 6) is preserved in the English Church Calendar.

On the left, is the Church of S. Giovanni a Porta Latina, built in 1190 by Celestine III.

In spite of many modernizations, the last by Cardinal Rasponi in 1685, this building retains externally more of its ancient character than most Roman churches, in its fine campanile and the old brick walls of the nave and apse, decorated with terra-cotta friezes. The portico is entered by a narrow arch resting on two granite columns. The entrance-door and the altar have the peculiar mosaic ribbon decoration of the Cosmati, of 1190. The frescoes are all modern; in the tribune, are the deluge and the baptism of Christ,—the type and antitype. Of the ten columns, eight are simple and of granite, two are fluted and of porta-santa, showing that they were not made for the church, but removed from some pagan building—probably from the temple of Ceres and Proserpine. Near the entrance is a very picturesque marble Well, like those so common at Venice and Padua, decorated with an intricate pattern of rich carving.

In the opposite vineyard, behind the chapel of the Oleo, very picturesquely situated under the Aurelian Wall, is the Columbarium of the Freedmen of Octavia. A columbarium was a tomb containing a number of cinerary urns in niches like pigeon-holes, whence the name. Many columbaria were held in common by a great number of persons, and the niches could be obtained by purchase or inheritance; in other cases, the heads of the great houses possessed whole columbaria for their families and their slaves. In the present instance the columbarium is more than usually decorated, and, though much smaller, it is far more worth seeing than the columbaria which it is the custom to visit immediately upon the Appian Way. One of the cippi, above the staircase, is beautifully decorated with shells and mosaic. Below, is a chamber, whose vault is delicately painted with vines and little Bacchi gathering in the vintage. Round the walls are arranged the urns, some of them in the form of temples, and very beautifully designed, others merely pots sunk into the wall, with conical lids, like pipkins let into a kitchen-range. A beautiful vase of lapis-lazuli found here has been transferred to the Vatican.

Proceeding along the Via Appia, on the left by a tall cypress (No. 13) is the entrance to the Tomb of the Scipios, a small catacomb in the tufa rock, discovered in 1780, from which the famous sarcophagus of L. Scipio Barbatus, and a bust of the poet Ennius,[195] were removed to the Vatican by Pius VII.

"The Scipios' tomb contains no ashes now;

The very sepulchres lie tenantless

Of their heroic dwellers."

Childe Harold.

The contadino at the neighbouring farmhouse provides lights, with which one can visit a labyrinth of steep narrow passages, some of which still retain inscribed sepulchral slabs. Among the Scipios whose tombs have been discovered here were Lucius Scipio Barbatus and his son, the conqueror of Corsica; Aula Cornelia wife of Cneius Scipio Hispanis; a son of Scipio Africanus; Lucius Cornelius son of Scipio Asiaticus; Cornelius Scipio Hispanis and his son Lucius Cornelius. At the further end of these passages, and now, like them, subterranean, may be seen the pediment and arched entrance of the tomb towards the Via Latina. "It is uncertain whether Scipio Africanus was buried at Liternum or in the family tomb. In the time of Livy monuments to him were extant in both places."[196]

There is a beautiful view towards Rome from the vineyard above the tomb.

A little further on, left (No. 14), is the entrance of the Vigna Codini (a private garden with an extortionate custode), containing three interesting Columbaria. Two of these are large square vaults, supported by a central pillar, which, as well as the walls, is perforated by niches for urns. The third has three vaulted passages.

We now reach the Arch of Drusus. On its summit are the remains of the aqueduct by which Caracalla carried water to his baths. The arch once supported an equestrian statue of Drusus, two trophies, and a seated female figure representing Germany.

The Arch of Drusus was decreed by the senate in honour of the second son of the empress Livia, by her first husband, Tiberius Nero. He was father of Germanicus and the emperor Claudius, and brother of Tiberius. He died during a campaign on the Rhine, B.C. 9, and was brought back to be buried by his step-father Augustus in his own mausoleum. His virtues are attested in a poem ascribed to Pedo Albinovanus.

"This arch, 'Marmoreum arcum cum tropæo Appia Via' (Suet. I), is, with the exception of the Pantheon, the most perfect existing monument of Augustan architecture. It is heavy, plain, and narrow, with all the dignified but stern simplicity which belongs to the character of its age."—Merivale.

"It is hard for one who loves the very stones of Rome, to pass over all the thoughts which arise in his mind, as he thinks of the great Apostle treading the rude and massive pavement of the Appian Way, and passing under that Arch of Drusus at the Porta S. Sebastiano, toiling up the Capitoline Hill past the Tabularium of the Capitol, dwelling in his hired house in the Via Lata or elsewhere, imprisoned in those painted caves in the Prætorian Camp, and at last pouring out his blood for Christ at the Tre Fontane, on the road to Ostia."—Dean Alford's Study of the New Testament, p. 335.

The Porta San Sebastiano has two fine semicircular towers of the Aurelian wall, resting on a basement of marble blocks, probably plundered from the tombs on the Via Appia. Under the arch is a gothic inscription relating to the repulse of some unknown invaders.

It was here that the senate and people of Rome received in state the last triumphant procession which has entered the city by the Via Appia, that of Marc-Antonio Colonna, after the victory of Lepanto in 1571. As in the processions of the old Roman generals, the children of the conquered prince were forced to adorn the triumph of the victor, who rode into Rome attended by all the Roman nobles, "in abito di grande formalità,"[197] preceded by the standard of the fleet.

From the gate, the Clivus Martis (crossed by the railway to Civita Vecchia) descends into the valley of the Almo, where antiquaries formerly placed the Porta Capena. On the hillside stood a Temple of Mars, vowed in the Gallic war, and dedicated by T. Quinctius the "duumvir sacris faciundis," in B.C. 387. No remains exist of this temple. It was "approached from the Via Capena by a portico, which must have rivalled in length the celebrated portico at Bologna extending to the church of the Madonna di S. Luca."[198] Near this, a temple was erected to Tempestas in B.C. 260, by L. Cornelius Scipio, to commemorate the narrow escape of his fleet from shipwreck off the coast of Sardinia.[199] Near this, also, the poet Terence owned a small estate of twenty acres, presented to him by his friend Scipio Emilianus.[200] After crossing the brook, we pass between two conspicuous tombs. That on the left is the Tomb of Geta, son of Septimius Severus, the murdered brother of Caracalla; that on the right is the Tomb of Priscilla, wife of Abascantius, a favourite freedman of Domitian.

"Est locus, ante urbem, qua primum nascitur ingens

Appia, quaque Italo gemitus Almone Cybele

Ponit, et Idæos jam non reminiscitur amnes.

Hic te Sidonio velatam molliter ostro

Eximius conjux (nec enim fumantia busta

Clamoremque rogi potuit perferre), beato

Composuit, Priscilla, toro."

Statius, lib. v. Sylv. i. 222.

Just beyond this, the Via Ardeatina branches off on the right, passing, after about two miles, the picturesque Vigna Marancia, a pleasant spot, with fine old pines and cypresses.

Where the roads divide, is the Church of Domine Quo Vadis, containing a copy of the celebrated footprint said to have been left here by Our Saviour: the original being removed to S. Sebastiano.

"After the burning of Rome, Nero threw upon the Christians the accusation of having fired the city. This was the origin of the first persecution, in which many perished by terrible and hitherto unheard-of deaths. The Christian converts besought Peter not to expose his life. As he fled along the Appian Way, about two miles from the gates, he was met by a vision of our Saviour travelling towards the city. Struck with amazement, he exclaimed, 'Lord, whither goest thou?' to which the Saviour, looking upon him with a mild sadness, replied, 'I go to Rome to be crucified a second time,' and vanished. Peter, taking this as a sign that he was to submit himself to the sufferings prepared for him, immediately turned back to the city.[201] Michael Angelo's famous statue, now in the Church of Sta. Maria sopra Minerva, is supposed to represent Christ as he appeared to St. Peter on this occasion. A cast or copy of it is in the little church of 'Domine, quo vadis?'

"It is surprising that this most beautiful, picturesque, and, to my fancy, sublime legend, has been so seldom treated; and never, as it seems to me, in a manner worthy of its capabilities and high significance. It is seldom that a story can be told by two figures, and these two figures placed in such grand and dramatic contrast;—Christ in His serene majesty, and radiant with all the joy of beatitude, yet with an expression of gentle reproach; the Apostle at his feet arrested in his flight, amazed, and yet filled with a trembling joy; and for the background the wide Campagna, or towering walls of imperial Rome."—Mrs. Jameson.[202]

Beyond the church is a second "Bivium," or cross-ways, where a lane on the left leads up the Valle Caffarelle. Here, feeling an uncertainty which was the crossing where Our Saviour appeared to St. Peter, the English Cardinal Pole erected a second tiny chapel of "Domine Quo Vadis," which remains to this day.

On the left, is the Columbarium of the Freedmen of Augustus and Livia, divided into three chambers, but despoiled of its adornments. Other Columbaria near this are assigned to the Volusii, and the Cæcilii.

Over the wall on the left of the Via Appia now hangs in profusion the rare yellow-berried ivy. Many curious plants are to be found on these old Roman walls. Their commonest parasite, the Pellitory—"herba parietina," calls to mind the nickname given to the Emperor Trajan in derision of his passion for inscribing his name upon the walls of Roman buildings which he had merely restored, as if he were their founder;[203] a passion in which the popes have since largely participated.

We now reach (on the right) the entrance of the Catacombs of St. Calixtus.

(The Catacombs (except those at S. Sebastiano) can only be visited in company of a guide. For most of the Catacombs it is necessary to obtain a permesso at the office of the Cardinal-Vicar, 70 Via della Scrofa, before 12 A.M.; upon which a day (generally Sunday) is fixed, which must be adhered to. The Catacombs of St. Calixtus are sometimes superficially shown without a special permesso. It may be well for the visitor to provide himself with tapers—cerini.)

All descriptions of dangers attending a visit to the Catacombs, if accompanied by a guide, and provided with "cerini," are quite imaginary. Neither does the visitor ever suffer from cold; the temperature of the Catacombs is mild and warm; the vaults are almost always dry, and the air pure.

"The Roman Catacombs—a name consecrated by long usage, but having no etymological meaning, and not a very determinate geographical one—are a vast labyrinth of galleries excavated in the bowels of the earth in the hills around the Eternal City; not in the hills on which the city itself was built, but in those beyond the walls. Their extent is enormous; not as to the amount of superficial soil which they underlie, for they rarely, if ever, pass beyond the third mile-stone from the city, but in the actual length of their galleries; for these are often excavated on various levels, or piani, three, four, or even five—one above the other; and they cross and recross one another, sometimes at short intervals, on each of these levels; so that, on the whole, there are certainly not less than 350 miles of them; that is to say, if stretched out in one continuous line, they would extend the whole length of Italy itself. The galleries are from two to four feet in width, and vary in height according to the nature of the rock in which they are dug. The walls on both sides are pierced with horizontal niches, like shelves in a bookcase or berths in a steamer, and every niche once contained one or more dead bodies. At various intervals this succession of shelves is interrupted for a moment, that room may be made for a doorway opening into a small chamber; and the walls of these chambers are generally pierced with graves in the same way as the galleries.

"These vast excavations once formed the ancient Christian cemeteries of Rome; they were begun in apostolic times, and continued to be used as burial-places of the faithful till the capture of the city by Alaric in the year 410. In the third century, the Roman Church numbered twenty-five or twenty-six of them, corresponding to the number of her titles, or parishes, within the city; and besides these, there are about twenty others, of smaller dimensions, isolated monuments of special martyrs, or belonging to this or that private family. Originally they all belonged to private families or individuals, the villas or gardens in which they were dug being the property of wealthy citizens who had embraced the faith of Christ, and devoted of their substance to His service. Hence their most ancient titles were taken merely from the names of their lawful owners, many of which still survive. Lucina, for example, who lived in the days of the Apostles, and others of the same family, or at least of the same name, who lived at various periods in the next two centuries; Priscilla, also a contemporary of the Apostles; Flavia Domitilla, niece of Vespasian; Commodilla, whose property lay on the Via Ostiensis; Cyriaca, on the Via Tiburtina; Pretextatus, on the Via Appia; Pontiano, on the Via Portuensis; and the Jordani, Maximus and Thraso, all on the Via Salaria Nova. These names are still attached to the various catacombs, because they were originally begun upon the land of those who bore them. Other catacombs are known by the names of those who presided over their formation, as that of St. Calixtus, on the Via Appia; or St. Mark, on the Via Ardeatina; or of the principal martyrs who were buried in them, as SS. Hermes, Basilla, Protus, and Hyacinthus, on the Via Salaria Vetus; or, lastly, by some peculiarity of their position, as ad Catacumbas on the Via Appia, and ad duas Lauros on the Via Labicana.

"It has always been agreed among men of learning who have had an opportunity of examining these excavations, that they were used exclusively by the Christians as places of burial and of holding religious assemblies. Modern research has now placed it beyond a doubt, that they were also originally designed for this purpose and for no other: that they were not deserted sand-pits (arenariæ) or quarries, adapted to Christian uses, but a development, with important modifications, of a form of sepulchre not altogether unknown even among the heathen families of Rome, and in common use among the Jews both in Rome and elsewhere.

"At first, the work of making the Catacombs was done openly, without let or hindrance, by the Christians; the entrances to them were public on the high-road or on the hill-side, and the galleries and chambers were freely decorated with paintings of a sacred character. But early in the third century, it became necessary to withdraw them as much as possible from the public eye; new and often difficult entrances were now effected in the recesses of deserted arenariæ, and even the liberty of Christian art was cramped and fettered, lest what was holy should fall under the profane gaze of the unbaptized.

"Each of these burial-places was called in ancient times either hypogæum, i. e. generically, a subterranean place, or cœmeterium, a sleeping-place, a new name of Christian origin which the pagans could only repeat, probably without understanding; sometimes also martyrium, or confessio (its Latin equivalent), to signify that it was the burial-place of martyrs or confessors of the faith. An ordinary grave was called locus or loculus, if it contained a single body; or bisomum, trisomum, or quadrisomum, if it contained two, three, or four. The graves were dug by fossores, and burial in them was called depositio. The galleries do not seem to have had any specific name; but the chambers were called cubicula. In most of these chambers, and sometimes also in the galleries themselves, one or more tombs are to be seen of a more elaborate kind; a long oblong chasse, like a sarcophagus, either hollowed out in the rock or built up of masonry, and closed by a heavy slab of marble lying horizontally on the top. The niche over tombs of this kind was of the same length as the grave, and generally vaulted in a semicircular form, whence they were called arcosolia. Sometimes, however, the niche retained the rectangular form, in which case there was no special name for it, but for distinction's sake we may be allowed to call it a table-tomb. Those of the arcosolia, which were also the tomb of martyrs, were used on the anniversaries of their deaths (Natalitia, or birthdays) as altars whereon the holy mysteries were celebrated; hence, whilst some of the cubicula were only family-vaults, others were chapels, or places of public assembly. It is probable that the holy mysteries were celebrated also in the private vaults, on the anniversaries of the deaths of their occupants; and each one was sufficiently large in itself for use on these private occasions; but in order that as many as possible might assist at the public celebrations, two, three, or even four of the cubicula were often made close together, all receiving light and air through one shaft or air-hole (luminare), pierced through the superincumbent soil up to the open air. In this way as many as a hundred persons might be collected in some parts of the catacombs to assist at the same act of public worship; whilst a still larger number might have been dispersed in the cubicula of neighbouring galleries, and received there the bread of life brought to them by the assistant priests and deacons. Indications of this arrangement are not only to be found in ancient ecclesiastical writings; they may still be seen in the very walls of the catacombs themselves, episcopal chairs, chairs for the presiding deacon or deaconess, and benches for the faithful, having formed part of the original design when the chambers were hewn out of the living rock, and still remaining where they were first made."—Roma Sotterranea, Northcote and Brownlow.

"To our classic associations, Rome was still, under Trajan and the Antonines, the city of the Cæsars, the metropolis of pagan idolatry—in the pages of her poets and historians we still linger among the triumphs of the Capitol, the shows of the Coliseum; or if we read of a Christian being dragged before the tribunal, or exposed to the beasts, we think of him as one of a scattered community, few in number, spiritless in action, and politically insignificant. But all this while there was living beneath the visible an invisible Rome—a population unheeded, unreckoned—thought of vaguely, vaguely spoken of, and with the familiarity and indifference that men feel who live on a volcano—yet a population strong-hearted, of quick impulses, nerved alike to suffer or to die, and in number, resolution, and physical force sufficient to have hurled their oppressors from the throne of the world, had they not deemed it their duty to kiss the rod, to love their enemies, to bless those that cursed them, and to submit, for their Redeemer's sake, to the 'powers that be.' Here, in these 'dens and caves of the earth,' they lived; here they died—a 'spectacle' in their lifetime 'to men and angels,' and in their death a 'triumph' to mankind—a triumph of which the echoes still float around the walls of Rome, and over the desolate Campagna, while those that once thrilled the Capitol are silenced, and the walls that returned them have long since crumbled into dust."—Lord Lindsay' s Christian Art, i. 4.

The name Catacombs is modern, having originally been only applied to S. Sebastiano "ad catacumbas." The early Christians called their burial-places by the Greek name Cœmeteria, sleeping-places. Almost all the catacombs are between the first and third mile-stones from the Aurelian wall, to which point the city extended before the wall itself was built. This was in obedience to the Roman law which forbade burial within the precincts of the city.

The fact that the Christians were always anxious not to burn their dead, but to bury them, in these rock-hewn sepulchres, was probably owing to the remembrance that our Lord was himself laid "in a new tomb hewn out of the rock," and perhaps also for this reason the bodies were wrapt in fine linen cloths, and buried with precious spices, of which remains have been found in the tombs.

The Catacomb which is known as St. Calixtus, is composed of a number of catacombs, once distinct, but now joined together. Such were those of Sta. Lucina; of Anatolia, daughter of the consul Æmilianus; and of Sta. Soteris, "a virgin of the family to which St. Ambrose belonged in a later generation," and who was buried "in cœmeterio suo," A.D. 304. The passages of these catacombs were gradually united with those which originally belonged to the cemetery of Calixtus.

The high mass of ruin which meets our eyes on first entering the vineyard of St. Calixtus, is a remnant of the tomb of the Cæcilii, of which family a number of epitaphs have been found. Beyond this is another ruin, supposed by Marangoni to have been the basilica which St. Damasus provided for his own burial and that of his mother and sister; which Padre Marchi believed to be the church of St. Mark and St. Marcellinus;—but which De Rossi identifies with the cella memoriæ, sometimes called of St. Sistus, sometimes of St. Cecilia (because built immediately over the graves of those martyrs), by St. Fabian in the third century.[204]

Descending into the Catacomb by an ancient staircase restored, we reach (passing a sepulchral cubiculum on the right) the Chapel of the Popes, a place of burial and of worship of the third or fourth century, (as it was restored after its discovery in 1854) but still retaining remains of the marble slabs with which it was faced by Sixtus III. in the fifth century, and of marble columns, &c. with which it was adorned by St. Leo III. (795—816). The walls are lined with graves of the earliest popes, many of them martyrs—viz. St. Zephyrinus, (202—211); St Pontianus, who died in banishment in Sardinia, (231—236); St. Anteros, martyred under Maximian in the second month of his pontificate, (236); St. Fabian, martyred under Decius, (236—250); St. Lucius, martyred under Valerian, (253—255); St. Stephen I., martyred in his episcopal chair under Valerian, (255—257); St. Sixtus II., martyred in the catacombs of St. Pretextatus, (257—260); St. Dionysius, (260—271); St. Eutychianus, martyr, (275—283); and St. Caius, (284—296). Of these, the gravestones of Anteros, Fabian, Lucius, and Eutychianus, have been discovered, with inscriptions in Greek, which is acknowledged to have been the earliest language of the Church,—in which St. Paul and St. James wrote, and in which the proceedings of the first twelve Councils were carried on.[205] Though no inscriptions have been found relating to the other popes mentioned, they are known to have been buried here from the earliest authorities.

Over the site of the altar is one of the beautifully-cut inscriptions of Pope St. Damasus (366—384), "whose labour of love it was to rediscover the tombs which had been blocked up for concealment under Diocletian, to remove the earth, widen the passages, adorn the sepulchral chambers with marble, and support the friable tufa walls with arches of brick and stone."[206]

"Hic congesta jacet quæris si turba Piorum

Corpora Sanctorum retinent veneranda sepulchra,

Sublimes animas rapuit sibi Regia Cœli:

Hic comites Xysti portant qui ex hoste tropæa;

Hic numerus procerum servat qui altaria Christi;

Hic positus longâ vixit qui in pace Sacerdos;

Hic Confessores sancti quos Græcia misit;

Hic juvenes, puerique, senes, castique nepotes,

Quis mage virgineum placuit retinere pudorem.

Hic fateor Damasus volui mea condere membra,

Sed cineres timui sanctos vexare Piorum.

"Here, if you would know, lie heaped together a number of the holy,

These honoured sepulchres inclose the bodies of the saints,

Their lofty souls the palace of heaven has received.

Here lie the companions of Xystus, who bear away the trophies from the enemy;

Here a tribe of the elders which guards the altars of Christ;

Here is buried the priest who lived long in peace;[207]

Here the holy confessors who came from Greece;[208]

Here lie youths and boys, old men and their chaste descendants,

Who kept their virginity undefiled.

Here I Damasus wished to have laid my limbs,

But feared to disturb the holy ashes of the saints."[209]

From this chapel we enter the Cubiculum of Sta. Cecilia, where the body of the saint was buried by her friend Urban after her martyrdom in her own house in the Trastevere (see Chap. XVII.) A.D. 224, and where it was discovered in 820 by Pope Paschal I. (to whom its resting-place had been revealed in a dream), "fresh and perfect as when it was first laid in the tomb, and clad in rich garments mixed with gold, with linen cloths stained with blood rolled up at her feet, lying in a cypress coffin."[210]

Close to the entrance of the cubiculum, upon the wall, is a painting of Cecilia, "a woman richly attired, and adorned with bracelets and necklaces." Near it is a niche for the lamp which burnt before the shrine, at the back of which is a large head of Our Saviour, "of the Byzantine type, and with rays of glory behind it in the form of a Greek cross. Side by side with this, but on the flat surface of the wall, is a figure of St. Urban (the friend of Cecilia, who laid her body here) in full pontifical robes, with his name inscribed." Higher on the wall are figures of three saints, "executed apparently in the fourth, or perhaps even the fifth century"—Polycamus, an unknown martyr, with a palm branch; Sebastianus; and Curinus, a bishop (Quirinus bishop of Siscia—buried at St. Sebastian). In the pavement is a gravestone of Septimus Pretextatus Cæcilianus, "a servant of God, who lived worthy for three-and-thirty years;"—considered important as suggesting a connection between the family of Cecilia and that of St. Prætextatus, in whose catacomb on the other side of the Appian Way her husband and brother-in-law were buried, and where her friend St. Urban was concealed.

These two chapels are the only ones which it is necessary to dwell upon here in detail. The rest of the catacomb is shown in varying order, and explained in different ways. Three points are of historic interest. 1. The roof-shaped tomb of Pope St. Melchiades, who lived long in peace and died A.D. 313. 2. The Cubiculum of Pope St. Eusebius, in the middle of which is placed an inscription, pagan on one side, on the other a restoration of the fifth century of one of the beautiful inscriptions of Pope Damasus, which is thus translated:—

"Heraclius forbade the lapsed to grieve for their sins. Eusebius taught those unhappy ones to weep for their crimes. The people were rent into parties, and with increasing fury began sedition, slaughter, fighting, discord, and strife. Straightway both (the pope and the heretic) were banished by the cruelty of the tyrant, although the pope was preserving the bonds of peace inviolate. He bore his exile with joy, looking to the Lord as his judge, and on the shore of Sicily gave up the world and his life."

At the top and bottom of the tablet is the following title:—

"Damasus Episcopus fecit Eusebio episcopo et martyri,"

and on either side a single file of letters which hands down to us the name of the sculptor who executed the Damasine inscriptions.

"Furius Dionysius Filocalus scripsit Damasis pappæ cultor atque amatot."

3. Near the exit, properly in the catacomb of Sta. Lucina, connected with that of Calixtus by a labyrinth of galleries, is the tomb of Pope St. Cornelius (251, 252) the only Roman bishop down to the time of St. Sylvester (314) who bore the name of any noble Roman family, and whose epitaph, (perhaps in consequence) is in Latin, while those of the other popes are in Greek. The tomb has no chapel of its own, but is a mere grave in a gallery, with a rectangular instead of a circular space above, as in the cubicula. Near the tomb are fragments of one of the commemorative inscriptions of St. Damasus, which has been ingeniously restored by De Rossi thus:—

"Aspice, descensu extructo tenebrisque fugatis

Corneli monumenta vides tumulumque sacratum

Hoc opus ægroti Damasi præstantia fecit,

Esset ut accessus melior, populisque paratum

Auxilium sancti, et valeas si fundere puro

Corde preces, Damasus melior consurgere posset,

Quem non lucis amor, tenuit mage cura laboris."

"Behold! a way down has been constructed, and the darkness dispelled; you see the monuments of Cornelius, and his sacred tomb. This work the zeal of Damasus has accomplished, sick as he is, in order that the approach might be better, and the aid of the saint might be made convenient for the people; and that, if you will pour forth your prayers from a pure heart, Damasus may rise up better in health, though it has not been love of life, but care for work, that has kept him (here below)."[211]

St. Cornelius was banished under Gallus to Centumcellæ—now Civita Vecchia, and was brought back thence to Rome for martyrdom Sept. 14, A.D. 252. On the same day of the month, in 258, died his friend and correspondent St. Cyprian, archbishop of Carthage,[212] who is consequently commemorated by the Church on the same day with St. Cornelius. Therefore also, on the right of the grave, are two figures of bishops with inscriptions declaring them to be St. Cornelius and St. Cyprian. Each holds the book of the Gospels in his hands and is clothed in pontifical robes, "including the pallium, which had not yet been confined as a mark of distinction to metropolitans."[213] Beneath the picture stands a pillar which held one of the vases of oil which were always kept burning before the shrines of the martyr. Beyond the tomb, at the end of the gallery, is another painting of two bishops, St. Sistus II., martyred in the catacomb of Pretextatus, and St. Optatus who was buried near him.

In going round this catacomb, and in most of the others, the visitor will be shown a number of rude paintings, which will be explained to him in various ways, according to the tendencies of his guide. The paintings may be considered to consist of three classes, symbolical; allegorical and biblical; and liturgical. There is little variety of subject,—the same are introduced over and over again.

The symbols most frequently introduced on and over the graves are:—

The Anchor, expressive of hope. Heb. vi. 19.

The Dove, symbolical of the Christian soul released from its earthly tabernacle. Ps. lv. 6.

The Sheep, symbolical of the soul still wandering amid the pastures and deserts of earthly life. Ps. cxix. 176. Isaiah liii. 6. John x. 14; xxi. 15, 16, 17.

The Phœnix, "the palm bird," emblematical of eternity and the resurrection.

The Fish—typical of Our Saviour—from the word ιχθυς, formed by the initial letters of the titles of Our Lord—Ιησοὑς Χριστὁς θεοὑ Υἱὁς Σωτἡρ—"Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour."

The Ship—representing the Church militant, sometimes seen carried on the back of the fish.

Bread, represented with fish, sometimes carried in a basket on its back, sometimes with it on a table—in allusion to the multiplication of the loaves and fishes.

A Female Figure Praying, an "Orante"—in allusion to the Church.

A Vine—also in allusion to the Church. Ps. lxxx. 8. Isaiah v. 1.

An Olive branch, as a sign of peace.

A Palm branch, as a sign of victory and martyrdom. Rev. vii. 9.

Allegorical and Biblical Representations.

Of these The Good Shepherd requires an especial notice from the importance which is given to it and its frequent introduction in catacomb art, both in sculpture and painting.

"By far the most interesting of the early Christian paintings is that of Our Saviour as the Good Shepherd, which is almost invariably painted on the central space of the dome or cupola, subjects of minor interest being disposed around it in compartments, precisely in the style, as regards both the arrangement and execution, of the heathen catacombs.

"He is represented as a youth in a shepherd's frock and sandals, carrying the 'lost sheep' on his shoulders, or leaning on his staff (the symbol, according to St. Augustine, of the Christian hierarchy), while the sheep feed around, or look up at him. Sometimes he is represented seated in the midst of the flock, playing on a shepherd's pipe,—in a few instances, in the oldest catacombs, he is introduced in the character of Orpheus, surrounded by wild beasts enrapt by the melody of his lyre,—Orpheus being then supposed to have been a prophet or precursor of the Messiah. The background usually exhibits a landscape or meadow, sometimes planted with olive-trees, doves resting on their branches, symbolical of the peace of the faithful; in others, as in a fresco preserved in the Museum Christianum, the palm of victory is introduced, —but such combinations are endless. In one or two instances the surrounding compartments are filled with personifications of the Seasons, apt emblems of human life, whether natural or spiritual.

"The subject of the Good Shepherd, I am sorry to add, is not of Roman but Greek origin, and was adapted from a statue of Mercury carrying a goat, at Tanagra, mentioned by Pausanias. The Christian composition approximates to its original more nearly in the few instances where Our Saviour is represented carrying a goat, emblematical of the scapegoat of the wilderness. Singularly enough, though of Greek parentage, and recommended to the Byzantines by Constantine, who erected a statue of the Good Shepherd in the forum of Constantinople, the subject did not become popular among them; they seem, at least, to have tacitly abandoned it to Rome."—Lord Lindsay's Christian Art.

"The Good Shepherd seems to have been quite the favourite subject. We cannot go through any part of the Catacombs, or turn over any collection of ancient Christian monuments, without coming across it again and again. We know from Tertullian that it was often designed upon chalices. We find it ourselves painted in fresco upon the roofs and walls of the sepulchral chambers; rudely scratched upon gravestones, or more carefully sculptured on sarcophagi; traced in gold upon glass, moulded on lamps, engraved on rings; and, in a word, represented on every species of Christian monument that has come down to us. Of course, amid such a multitude of examples, there is considerable variety of treatment. We cannot, however, appreciate the suggestion of Kügler, that this frequent repetition of the subject is probably to be attributed to the capabilities which it possessed in an artistic point of view. Rather, it was selected because it expressed the whole sum and substance of the Christian dispensation. In the language even of the Old Testament, the action of Divine Providence upon the world is frequently expressed by images and allegories borrowed from pastoral life; God is the Shepherd, and men are His sheep. But in a still more special way our Divine Redeemer offers Himself to our regards as the Good Shepherd. He came down from His eternal throne into this wilderness of the world to seek the lost sheep of the whole human race, and having brought them together into one fold on earth, thence to transport them into the ever-verdant pastures of Paradise."—Roma Sotterranea.

Other biblical subjects are:—from the Old Testament (those of Noah, Moses, Daniel, and Jonah being the only ones at all common)—

1. The Fall. Adam and Eve on either side of the Tree of Knowledge, round which the serpent is coiled. Sometimes, instead of this, "Our Saviour (as the representative of the Deity) stands between them, condemning them, and offering a lamb to Eve and a sheaf of corn to Adam, to signify the doom of themselves and their posterity to delve and to spin through all future ages."

2. The Offering of Cain and Abel. They present a lamb and sheaf of corn to a seated figure of the Almighty.

3. Noah in the Ark, represented as a box—a dove, bearing an olive-branch, flies towards him. Interpreted to express the doctrine that "the faithful having obtained remission of their sins through baptism, have received from the Holy Spirit the gift of divine peace, and are saved in the mystical ark of the church from the destruction which awaits the world."[214] (Acts ii. 47.)

4. Sacrifice of Isaac.

5. Passage of the Red Sea.

6. Moses receiving the Law.

7. Moses striking water from the rock—(very common).

8. Moses pointing to the pots of manna.

9. Elijah going up to heaven in the chariot of fire.

10. The Three Children in the fiery furnace;—very common as symbolical of martyrdom.

11. Daniel in the lions' den;—generally a naked figure with hands extended, and a lion on either side; most common—as an encouragement to Christian sufferers.

12. Jonah swallowed up by the whale, represented as a strange kind of sea-horse.

13. Jonah disgorged by the whale.

14. Jonah under the gourd; or, according to the Vulgate, under the ivy.

15. Jonah lamenting for the death of the gourd.

These four subjects from the story of Jonah are constantly repeated, perhaps as encouragement to the Christians suffering from the wickedness of Rome—the modern Nineveh, which they were to warn and pray for.

Subjects from the New Testament are:

1. The Nativity—the ox and the ass kneeling.

2. The Adoration of the Magi—repeatedly placed in juxtaposition with the story of the Three Children.

3. Our Saviour turning water into wine.

4. Our Saviour conversing with the woman of Samaria.

5. Our Saviour healing the paralytic man—who takes up his bed. This is very common.

6. Our Saviour healing the woman with the issue of blood.

7. Our Saviour multiplying the loaves and fishes.

8. Our Saviour healing the daughter of the woman of Canaan.

9. Our Saviour healing the blind man.

10. The raising of Lazarus, who appears at a door in his grave-clothes, while Christ with a wand stands before it. This is the New Testament subject oftenest introduced. It is constantly placed in juxtaposition with a picture of Moses striking the rock. "These two subjects may be intended to represent the beginning and end of the Christian course, 'the fountain of water springing up to life everlasting.' God's grace and the gift of faith being typified by the water flowing from the rock, 'which was Christ,' and life everlasting by the victory over death and the second life vouchsafed to Lazarus."[215]

11. Our Saviour's triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

12. Our Saviour giving the keys to Peter—very rare.

13. Our Saviour predicting the denial of Peter.

14. The denial of Peter.

15. Our Saviour before Pilate.

16. St.Peter taken to prison.

These last six subjects are only represented on tombs.[216]

The class of paintings shown as Liturgical are less definite than these. In the Catacombs of Calixtus several obscure paintings are shown (in cubicula anterior to the middle of the third century), which are said to have reference to the sacrament of baptism. Pictures of the paralytic carrying his bed are identified by some Roman Catholic authorities with the sacrament of penance. (!) Bosio believed that in the Catacomb of Sta. Priscilla he had found paintings which illustrated the sacrament of ordination. Representations undoubtedly exist which illustrate the agape or love-feast of the primitive Church.

On the opposite side of the Via Appia from St. Calixtus (generally entered from the road leading to S. Urbano) is the Catacomb of St. Pretextatus, interesting as being the known burial-place of several martyrs. A large crypt was discovered here in 1857, built with solid masonry and lined with Greek marble.

"The workmanship points to early date, and specimens of pagan architecture in the same neighbourhood enable us to fix the middle of the latter half of the second century (A.D. 175) as a very probable date for its erection. The Acts of the Saints explain to us why it was built with bricks, and not hewn out of the rock—viz. because the Christian who made it (Sta. Marmenia) had caused it to be excavated immediately below her own house; and now that we see it, we understand the precise meaning of the words used by the itineraries describing it—viz. 'a large cavern, most firmly built.' The vault of the chapel is most elaborately painted, in a style by no means inferior to the best classical productions of the age. It is divided into four bands of wreaths, one of roses, another of corn-sheaves, a third of vine-leaves and grapes (and in all these, birds are introduced visiting their young in nests), and the last or highest, of leaves of laurel or the bay-tree. Of course these severally represent the seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The last is a well-known figure or symbol of death; and probably the laurel, as the token of victory, was intended to represent the new and Christian idea of the everlasting reward of a blessed immortality. Below these bands is another border, more indistinct, in which reapers are gathering in the corn; and at the back of the arch is a rural scene, of which the central figure is the Good Shepherd carrying a sheep upon his shoulders. This, however, has been destroyed by graves pierced through the wall and the rock behind it, from the eager desire to bury the dead of a later generation as near as possible to the tombs of the martyrs. As De Rossi proceeded to examine these graves in detail, he could hardly believe his eyes when he read around the edge of one of them these words and fragments of words:—Mi Refrigeri Januarius Agatopos Felicissim Martyres—'Januarius, Agapetus, Felicissimus, martyrs, refresh the soul of....' The words had been scratched upon the mortar while it was yet fresh, fifteen centuries ago, as the prayer of some bereaved relative for the soul of him whom they were burying here, and now they revealed to the antiquarian of the nineteenth century the secret he was in quest of—viz. the place of burial of the saints whose aid is here invoked; for the numerous examples to be seen in other cemeteries warrant us in concluding that the bodies of the saints, to whose intercession the soul of the deceased is here recommended, were at the time of his burial lying at no great distance."—Roma Sotterranea.

The St. Januarius buried here was the eldest of the seven sons of St. Felicitas, martyred July 10, A.D. 162. St. Agapitus and St. Felicissimus were deacons of Pope Sixtus II., who were martyred together with him and St. Pretextatus[217] in this very catacomb, because Sixtus II. "had set at nought the commands of the Emperor Valerian."[218]

A mutilated inscription of St. Damasus, in the Catacomb of Calixtus, near the tomb of Cornelius, thus records the death of this pope:

"Tempore quo gladius secuit pia visura Matris

Hic positus rector cælestia jussa docebam;

Adveniunt subito, rapiunt qui forte sedentem;

Militibus missis, populi tunc colla dedere.

Mox sibi cognovit senior quis tollere vellet

Palmam seque suumque caput prior obtulit ipse,

Impatiens feritas posset ne lædere quemquam.

Ostendit Christus reddit qui præmia vitæ

Pastoris meritum, numerum gregis ipse tuetur."

"At the time when the sword pierced the heart of our Mother (Church), I, its ruler, buried here, was teaching the things of heaven. Suddenly they came, they seized me seated as I was;—the soldiers being sent in, the people gave their necks (to the slaughter). Soon the old man saw who was willing to bear away the palm from himself, and was the first to offer himself and his own head, fearing lest the blow should fall on any one else. Christ who awards the rewards of life recognises the merit of the pastor, he himself is preserving the number of his flock."

An adjoining crypt, considered to date from A.D. 130, is believed to be the burial-place of St. Quirinus.

Above this catacomb are ruins of two basilicas, erected in honour of St. Zeno; and of Tiburtius, Valerian, and Maximus, companions of Sta. Cecilia in martyrdom.

In the road leading to S. Urbano is the entrance to the Jewish Catacomb. It is entered by a chamber open to the sky, floored with black and white mosaic, which is supposed to have formed part of a pagan dwelling. The following chamber has remains of a well. Hence a low door forms the entrance of a gallery out of which open six cubicula, one of them containing a fine while marble sarcophagus, and decorated with a painting of the seven-branched candlestick. A side passage leads to other cubicula, and to an open space which seems to have been an actual arenarium. A winding passage at the end of the larger gallery leads to the graves in the floor divided into different cells for corpses, and called Cocim by Rabbinical writers. A cubiculum at the end of the catacomb has paintings of figures—Plenty, with a cornucopia; Victory, with a palm leaf, &c. The inscriptions found show that this cemetery was exclusively Jewish. They refer to officers of the synagogue, rulers (αρχοντες), and scribes (γραμματεις), &c. The inscriptions are in great part in Greek letters, expressing Latin words.

Another small Jewish catacomb has been discovered behind the basilica of St. Sebastian. Behind the Catacomb of St. Calixtus, on the right of the Via Ardeatina, is the Catacomb of SS. Nereo ed Achilleo. Close to its entrance is the farm of Tor Marancia, where are some ruins, believed to be remains of the villa of Flavia Domitilla. This celebrated member of the early Christian Church was daughter of the Flavia Domitilla who was sister of the Emperor Domitian,—and wife of Titus Flavius Clemens, son of the Titus Flavius Sabinus who was brother of the Emperor Vespasian. Her two sons were, Vespasian Junior and Domitian Junior, who were intended to succeed to the throne, and to whom Quinctilian was appointed as tutor by the emperor. Dion Cassius narrates that "Domitian put to death several persons, and amongst them Flavius Clemens the consul, although he was his nephew, and although he had Flavia Domitilla for his wife, who was also related to the emperor. They were both accused of atheism, on which charge many others also had been condemned, going after the manners and customs of the Jew; and some of them were put to death, and others had their goods confiscated; but Domitilla was only banished to Pandataria."[219] This Flavia Domitilla is frequently confused with her niece of the same name,[220] whose banishment is mentioned by Eusebius, when he says:—"The teaching of our faith had by this time shone so far and wide, that even pagan historians did not refuse to insert in their narratives some account of the persecution and the martyrdoms that were suffered in it. Some, too, have marked the time accurately, mentioning, amongst many others, in the fifteenth year of Domitian (A.D. 97), Flavia Domitilla, the daughter of a sister of Flavius Clemens, one of the Roman consuls of those days, who, for her testimony for Christ, was punished by exile to the island of Pontia." It was this younger Domitilla who was accompanied in her exile by her two Christian servants, Nereus and Achilles; whose banishment is spoken of by St. Jerome as "a life-long martyrdom,"—whose cell was afterwards visited by Sta. Paula,[221] and who, according to the Acts of SS. Nereus and Achilles, was brought back to the mainland to be burnt alive at Terracina, because she refused to sacrifice to idols. The relics of Domitilla, with those of her servants, were preserved in the catacomb under the villa which had belonged to her Christian aunt.

Receiving as evidence the story of Sta. Domitilla, this catacomb must be looked upon as the oldest Christian cemetery in existence. Its galleries were widened and strengthened by John I. (523—526). A chamber near the entrance is pointed out as the burial-place of Sta. Petronilla.

"The sepulchre of SS. Nereus and Achilles was in all probability in that chapel to which we descend by so magnificent a staircase, and which is illuminated by so fine a luminare; for that this is the central point of attraction in the cemetery is clear, both from the staircase and the luminare just mentioned, as also from the greater width of the adjacent galleries and other similar tokens." Here then St. Gregory the Great delivered his twenty-eighth homily (which Baronius erroneously supposes to have been delivered in the Church of SS. Nereo ed Achilleo, to which the bodies of the saints were not yet removed), in which he says—"These saints, before whose tomb we are assembled, despised the world and trampled it under their feet, when peace, plenty, riches, and health gave it charms."

" ... There is a higher and more ancient piano, in which coins and medals of the first two centuries, and inscriptions of great value, have been recently discovered. Some of these inscriptions may still be seen in one of the chambers near the bottom of the staircase; they are both Latin and Greek; sometimes both languages are mixed; and in one or two instances Latin words are written in Greek characters. Many of these monuments are of the deepest importance both in an antiquarian and religious point of view; in archaeology, as showing the practice of private Christians in the first ages to make the subterranean chambers at their own expense and for their own use, e. g.—'M. Aurelius Restutus made this subterranean for himself, and those of his family who believed in the Lord,'—where, both the triple names and the limitation introduced at the end (which shows that many of his family were still pagan), are unquestionably proofs of very high antiquity."—Northcote's Roman Catacombs, p. 103, &c.

Among the most remarkable paintings in this catacomb are, Orpheus with his lyre, surrounded by birds and beasts who are charmed with his music; Elijah ascending to heaven in a chariot drawn by four horses; and the portrait of Our Lord.

"The head and bust of our Lord form a medallion, occupying the centre of the roof in the same cubiculum where Orpheus is represented. This painting, in consequence of the description given of it by Kügler (who misnamed the catacomb St. Calixtus), is often eagerly sought after by strangers visiting the catacombs. It is only just, however, to add, that they are generally disappointed. Kügler supposed it to be the oldest portrait of Our Blessed Saviour in existence, but we doubt if there is sufficient authority for such a statement. He describes it in these words:—'The face is oval, with a straight nose, arched eyebrows, a smooth and rather high forehead, the expression serious and mild; the hair, parted on the forehead, flows in long curls down the shoulders; the beard is not thick, but short and divided; the age between thirty and forty.' But this description is too minute and precise, too artistic, for the original, as it is now to be seen. A lively imagination may, perhaps, supply the details described by our author, but the eye certainly fails to distinguish them."—Roma Sotterranea, p. 253.

Approached by a separate entrance on the slope of the hill-side is a sepulchral chamber, which De Rossi considers to have been the Burial-place of Sta. Domitilla.

"It is certainly one of the most ancient and remarkable Christian monuments yet discovered. Its position, close to the highway; its front of fine brickwork, with a cornice of terra-cotta, with the usual space for an inscription (which has now, alas, perished); the spaciousness of its gallery, with its four or five separate niches prepared for as many sarcophagi; the fine stucco on the wall; the eminently classical character of its decorations; all these things make it perfectly clear that it was the monument of a Christian family of distinction, excavated at great cost, and without the slightest attempt at concealment. In passing from the vestibule into the catacomb, we recognise the transition from the use of the sarcophagus to that of the common loculus; for the first two or three graves on either side, though really mere shelves in the wall, are so disguised by painting on the outside as to present to passers-by the complete outward appearance of a sarcophagus. Some few of these graves are marked with the names of the dead, written in black on the largest tiles, and the inscriptions on the other graves are all of the simplest and oldest form. Lastly, the whole of the vaulted roof is covered with the most exquisitely graceful designs, of branches of the vine (with birds and winged genii among them) trailing with all the freedom of nature over the whole walls, not fearing any interruption by graves, nor confined by any of those lines of geometrical symmetry which characterise similar productions in the next century. Traces also of landscapes may be seen here and there, which are of rare occurrence in the catacombs, though they may be seen in the chambers assigned by De Rossi to SS. Nereus and Achilles. The Good Shepherd, an agape, or the heavenly feast, a man fishing, and Daniel in the lions' den, are the chief historical or allegorical representations of Christian mysteries which are painted here. Unfortunately they have been almost destroyed by persons attempting to detach them from the wall."—Roma Sotterranea, p. 70.

A road to the left now leads to the Via Appia Nuova, passing about a quarter of a mile hence, a turn on the left to the ruin generally known as the Temple of Bacchus, from an altar dedicated to Bacchus which was found there, but considered by modern antiquaries as a temple of Ceres and Proserpine. This building has been comparatively saved from the destruction which has befallen its neighbours by having been consecrated as a church in A.D. 820 by Pope Pascal I., in honour of his sainted predecessor Urban I., A.D. 226—whose pontificate was chiefly passed in refuge in the neighbouring Catacomb of St. Calixtus—because of a belief that he was wont to resort hither.

A chapel at a great depth below the church, is shown as that in which St. Urban baptized and celebrated mass. A curious fresco here represents the Virgin between St. Urban and St. John.

Around the upper part of the interior are a much injured series of frescoes, comprising—the life of Christ from the Annunciation to the descent into Hades,—and the life of St. Cecilia and her husband Valerian, ending in the burial of Cecilia by Pope Urban in the Catacombs of Calixtus, and the story of the martyred Urban I. In the picture of the Crucifixion, the thieves have their names, "Calpurnius and Longinus." The frescoes were altered in the seventeenth century to suit the views of the Roman Church, keys being placed in the hand of Peter, &c. Sets of drawings taken before and after the alterations, are preserved in the Barberini Library, and curiously show the difference.

A winding path leads from S. Urbano into the valley. Here, beside the Almo rivulet, is a ruined Nymphæum containing a mutilated statue of a river-god, which was called "the Grotto of Egeria," till a few years ago, when the discovery of the true site of the Porta Capena fixed that of the grotto within the walls. The fine grove of old ilex-trees on the hillside, was at the same time pointed out as the sacred grove of Egeria.

"Egeria! sweet creation of some heart

Which found no mortal resting-place so fair

As thine ideal breast; whate'er thou art

Or wert,—a young Aurora of the air,

The nympholepsy of some fond despair;

Or, it might be, a beauty of the earth,

Who found a more than common votary there

Too much adoring; whatsoe'er thy birth,

Thou wert a beautiful thought, and softly bodied forth.

"The mosses of thy fountain still are sprinkled

With thine Elysian water-drops; the face

Of thy cave-guarded spring, with years unwrinkled,

Reflects the meek-eyed genius of the place,

Whose green, wild margin now no more erase

Art's works; nor must the delicate waters sleep,

Prisoned in marble, bubbling from the base

Of the cleft statue, with a gentle leap

The rill runs o'er, and round, fern, flowers, and ivy, creep,

"Fantastically tangled; the green hills

Are clothed with early blossoms, through the grass

The quick-eyed lizard rustles, and the bills

Of summer-birds sing welcome as ye pass;

Flowers fresh in hue, and many in their class,

Implore the pausing step, and with their dyes

Dance in the soft breeze in a fairy mass;

The sweetness of the violet's deep blue eyes,

Kiss'd by the breath of heaven, seems coloured by its skies."

Byron, Childe Harold.

It is now known that this nymphæum and the valley in which it stands belonged to the suburban villa called Triopio, of Herodes Atticus, whose romantic story is handed down to us through two Greek inscriptions in the possession of the Borghese family, and is further illustrated by the writings of Filostratus and Pausanias.

A wealthy Greek named Ipparchus offended his government and lost all his wealth by confiscation, but the family fortunes were redeemed, through the discovery by his son Atticus of a vast treasure, concealed in a small piece of ground which remained to them, close to the rock of the Acropolis. Dreading the avarice of his fellow-citizens, Atticus sent at once to Nerva, the then emperor, telling him of the discovery, and requesting his orders as to what he was to do with the treasure. Nerva replied, that he was welcome to keep it, and use it as he pleased. Not yet satisfied or feeling sufficiently sure of the protection of the emperor, Atticus again applied to him, saying that the treasure was far too vast for the use of a person in a private station of life, and asking how he was to use it. The emperor again replied that the treasure was his own and due to his own good fortune, and that "what he could not use he might abuse." Atticus then entered securely into possession of his wealth, which he bequeathed to his son Herodes, who used his fortune magnificently in his bountiful charities, in the encouragement of literature and art throughout both Greece and Italy, and (best appreciated of all by the Greeks) in the splendour of the public games which he gave.

Early in the reign of Antoninus Pius, Herodes Atticus removed to Rome, where he was appointed professor of rhetoric to Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, the two adopted sons of the emperor, and where he attained the consulship in A.D. 143. Soon after his arrival he fell in love with Annia Regilla, a beautiful and wealthy heiress, and in spite of the violent opposition of her brother, Annius Attilius Braduas, who, belonging to the Julian family, and claiming an imaginary descent from Venus and Anchises, looked upon the marriage as a mesalliance, he succeeded in obtaining her hand. Part of the wealth which Annia Regilla brought to her husband was the Valle Caffarelli and its nymphæum.

For some years Herodes Atticus and Annia Regilla enjoyed the perfection of married happiness in this beautiful valley; but shortly before the expected birth of her fifth child, she died very suddenly, leaving her husband almost frantic with grief and refusing every consolation. He was roused, however, from his first anguish by his brother-in-law Annius Braduas, who had never laid aside his resentment at the marriage, and who now accused him of having poisoned his wife. Herodes demanded a public trial, and was acquitted. Filostratus records that the intense grief he showed and the depth of the mourning he wore, were taken as signs of his innocence. Further to clear himself from imputation, Herodes offered all the jewels of Annia Regilla upon the altar of the Eleusinian deities, Ceres and Proserpine, at the same time calling down the vengeance of the outraged gods if he were guilty of sacrilege.

The beloved Regilla was buried in a tomb surrounded by "a sepulchral field" within the precincts of the villa, dedicated to Minerva and Nemesis, and (as recorded in one of the Greek inscriptions) it was made an act of the highest sacrilege, for any but her own descendants to be laid within those sacred limits. A statue was also erected to Regilla in the Triopian temple of Ceres and Proserpine, which is now supposed to be the same with that usually called the temple of Bacchus. Not only did Herodes hang his house with black in his affliction, but all gaily coloured marbles were stripped from the walls, and replaced with the dark grey marble known as "bardiglio,"—and his depth of woe made him so conspicuous, that a satirical person seeing his cook prepare white beans for dinner, wondered that he could dare to do so in a house so entirely black.

The inscriptions in which this story is related (one of them containing thirty-nine Greek verses) are engraved on slabs of Pentelic marble—and Philostratus and Pausanias narrate that the quarries of this marble were the property of Herodes, and that in his magnificent buildings he almost exhausted them.[222]

The field path from hence leads back to the Church of Domine Quo Vadis, passing on the right a beautifully-finished tomb (of the time of Septimius Severus) known as the Temple of Divus Rediculus, and formerly described as having been built to commemorate the retreat of Hannibal, who came thus far in his intended attack upon Rome. The temple erected in memory of this event was really on the right of the Via Appia. It was dedicated to Rediculus, the god of Return. The folly of ciceroni often cites this name as "Ridiculous."

The neighbourhood of the Divus Rediculus (which he however places on the right of the Via Appia) is described by Pliny in connection with a curious story of imperial times. There was a cobbler who had his stall in the Roman Forum, and who possessed a tame raven, which was a great favourite with the young Romans, to whom he would bid good day as he sate perched upon the rostra. At length he became quite a public character, and the indignation was so great when his master killed him with his hammer in a fit of rage at his spoiling some new leather, that they slew the cobbler and decreed a public funeral to the bird; who was carried to the grave on a bier adorned with honorary crowns, preceded by a piper, and supported by two negroes in honour of his colour,—and buried—"ad rogum usque, qui constructus dextrâ Viæ Appiæ ad secundum lapidem in campo Rediculo appellate fuit."—Pliny, Nat. Hist. lib. x. c. 60.

Returning to the Via Appia, we reach, on the right, the Basilica of S. Sebastiano, rebuilt in 1611 by Flaminio Ponzio for Cardinal Scipio Borghese on the site of a church which had been founded by Constantine, where once existed the house and garden of the matron Lucina, in which she had buried the body of Sebastian, after his (second) martyrdom under Diocletian. The basilica contains nothing ancient, but the six granite columns in the portico. The altar covers the relics of the saint (a Gaul, a native of Narbonne, a Christian soldier under Diocletian) and the chapel of St. Sebastian has a statue of him in his youth, designed by Bernini and executed by Antonio Giorgetti.

"The almost colossal form lies dead, the head resting on his helmet and armour. It is evidently modelled from nature, and is perhaps the finest thing ever designed by Bernini.... It is probably from the association of arrows with his form and story that St. Sebastian has been regarded from the first ages of Christianity as the protecting saint against plague and pestilence; Apollo was the deity who inflicted plague, and therefore was invoked with prayer and sacrifice against it; and to the honour of Apollo, in this particular character, St. Sebastian has succeeded."—Jameson's Sacred Art, p. 414.

The original of the footprint in the Domine Quo Vadis is said to be preserved here.

On the left of the entrance is the descent into the catacombs, with the inscription:

"In hoc sacrosancto loco qui dicitur ad Catacumbas, ubi sepulta fuerunt sanctorum martyrum corpora 174,000 ac 46 summorum pontificium pariterque martyrum. In altare in quo corpus divi Sebastiani Christi athletæ jacet celebrans summus Pontifex S. Gregorius Magnus vidit angelum Dei candidiorem nive, sibi in tremendo sacrificio ministrantem ac dicentem, 'Hic est locus sacratissimus in quo est divina promissio et omnium peccatorum remissio, splendor et lux perpetua, sine fine lætitia, quam Christi martyr Sebastianus habere promeruit.' Prout Severanus Tom. Pº. pagina 450, ac etiam antiquissimæ lapideæ testantur tabulæ.

"Ideo in hoc insigne privilegiato altari, tam missæ cantatæ quam privatæ, dum celebrante, animæ quæ sunt in purgatorio pro quibus sacrificium offertur plenariam indulgentiam, et omnium suorum peccatorum remissionem consequuntur prout ab angelo dictum fuit et summi pontifices confirmarunt."

These are the catacombs which are most frequently visited by strangers, because they can always be seen on application to the monks attached to the church,—though they are of greatly inferior interest to those of St Calixtus.

"Though future excavations may bring to light much that is interesting in this cemetery, the small portion now accessible is, as a specimen of the Catacombs, utterly without value. Its only interest consists in its religious associations: here St. Bridget was wont to kneel, rapt in contemplation; here St. Charles Borromeo spent whole nights in prayer; and here the heart of St. Philip Neri was so inflamed with divine love as to cause his very bodily frame to be changed."—Northcote's Roman Catacombs.

"Philip, on thee the glowing ray

Of heaven came down upon thy prayer,

To melt thy heart, and burn away

All that of earthly dross was there.

"And so, on Philip when we gaze,

We see the image of his Lord;

The saint dissolves amid the blaze

Which circles round the Living Word.

"The meek, the wise, none else is here,

Dispensing light to men below;

His awful accents fill the ear,

Now keen as fire, now soft as snow."

J. H. Newman, 1850.

Owing to the desire in the early Christian Church of saving the graves of their first confessors and martyrs from desecration, almost all the catacombs were gradually blocked up, and by lapse of time their very entrances were forgotten. In the fourteenth century very few were still open. In the fifteenth century none remained except this of St. Sebastian, which continued to be frequented by pilgrims, and was called in all ancient documents "cœmeterium ad catacumbas."

At the back of the high-altar is an interesting half-subterranean building, attributed to Pope Liberius (352—355), and afterwards adorned by Pope Damasus, who briefly tells its history in one of his inscriptions, which may still be seen here:

"Hinc habitasse prius sanctos cognoscere debes,

Nomina quisque Petri pariter Paulique requiris.

Discipulos Oriens misit, quod sponte fatemur,

Sanguinis ob meritum Christumque per astra sequuti,

Aetherios petiere sinus et regna piorum.

Roma suos potius meruit defendere cives.

Hæc Damasus vestras referat sidera laudes."

"Here you should know that saints dwelt. Their names, if you ask them, were Peter and Paul. The East sent disciples, which we freely acknowledge. For the merit of their blood they followed Christ to the stars, and sought the heavenly home and the kingdom of the blest. Rome however deserved to defend her own citizens. May Damasus record these things for your praise, O new stars."

"The two Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, were originally buried, the one at the Vatican, the other on the Ostian Way, at the spot where their respective basilicas now stand; but, as soon as the Oriental Christians had heard of their death, they sent some of their brethren to remove their bodies, and bring them back to the East, where they considered that they had a right to claim them as their fellow-citizens and countrymen. These so far prospered in their mission as to gain a momentary possession of the sacred relics, which they carried off, along the Appian Way, as far as the spot where the church of St. Sebastian was afterwards built. Here they rested for a while, to make all things ready for their journey, or, according to another account, were detained by a thunderstorm of extraordinary violence, which delay, however occasioned, was sufficient to enable the Christians of Rome to overtake them and recover their lost treasure. These Roman Christians then buried the bodies, with the utmost secrecy, in a deep pit, which they dug on the very spot where they were. Soon, indeed, they were restored to their original places of sepulture, as we know from contemporary authorities, and there seems reason to believe the old ecclesiastical tradition to be correct, which states them to have only remained in this temporary abode for a year and seven months. The body of St. Peter, however, was destined to revisit it a second time, and for a longer period; for when, at the beginning of the third century, Heliogabalus made his circus at the Vatican, Calixtus, who was then pope, removed the relics of the Apostle to their former temporary resting-place, the pit on the Appian Way. But in A.D. 257, St. Stephen, the pope, having been discovered in this very cemetery and having suffered martyrdom there, the body of St. Peter was once more removed, and restored to its original tomb in the Vatican."—Northcote's Roman Catacombs.

In the passages of this catacomb are misguiding inscriptions placed here in 1409 by William, Archbishop of Bourges, calling upon the faithful to venerate here the tombs of Sta. Cecilia and of many of the martyred popes, who are buried elsewhere. The martyr St. Cyrinus is known to have been buried here from very early itineraries, but his grave has not been discovered.

"When I was a boy, being educated at Rome, I used every Sunday, in company with other boys of my own age and tastes, to visit the tombs of the apostles and martyrs, and to go into the crypts excavated there in the bowels of the earth. The walls on either side as you enter are full of the bodies of the dead, and the whole place is so dark, that one seems almost to see the fulfilment of those words of the prophet, 'Let them go down alive into Hades.' Here and there a little light, admitted from above, suffices to give a momentary relief to the horror of the darkness; but as you go forwards, and find yourself again immersed in the utter blackness of night, the words of the poet come spontaneously to your mind: 'The very silence fills the soul with dread.'"—St. Jerome (A.D. 354), In Ezek. ch. lx.

"A gaunt Franciscan friar, with a wild bright eye, was our only guide down into this profound and dreadful place. The narrow ways and openings hither and thither, coupled with the dead and heavy air, soon blotted out, in all of us, any recollection of the track by which we had come; and I could not help thinking, 'Good Heaven, if in a sudden fit of madness he should dash the torches out, or if he should be seized with a fit, what would become of us!' On we wandered, among martyrs' graves: passing great subterranean vaulted roads, diverging in all directions, and choked up with heaps of stones, that thieves and murderers may not take refuge there, and form a population under Rome, even worse than that which lives between it and the sun. Graves, graves, graves; graves of men, of women, of little children, who ran crying to the persecutors, 'We are Christians! we are Christians!' that they might be murdered with their parents; graves with the palm of martyrdom roughly cut into their stone boundaries, and little niches, made to hold a vessel of the martyr's blood; graves of some who lived down here, for years together, ministering to the rest, and preaching truth, and hope, and comfort, from the rude altars, that bear witness to their fortitude at this hour; more roomy graves, but far more terrible, where hundreds, being surprised, were hemmed in and walled up; buried before death, and killed by slow starvation.

"'The triumphs of the Faith are not above-ground in our splendid churches,' said the friar, looking round upon us, as we stopped to rest in one of the low passages, with bones and dust surrounding us on every side. 'They are here! among the martyrs' graves!' He was a gentle, earnest man, and said it from his heart; but when I thought how Christian men have dealt with one another; how, perverting our most merciful religion, they have hunted down and tortured, burnt and beheaded, strangled, slaughtered, and oppressed each other; I pictured to myself an agony surpassing any that this Dust had suffered with the breath of life yet lingering in it, and how these great and constant hearts would have been shaken—how they would have quailed and drooped—if a foreknowledge of the deeds that professing Christians would commit in the great name for which they died, could have rent them with its own unutterable anguish, on the cruel wheel, and bitter cross, and in the fearful fire."—Dickens.

"Countless martyrs, they say, rest in these ancient sepulchres. In these dark depths the ancient Church took refuge from persecution; there she laid her martyrs, and there, over their tombs, she chaunted hymns of triumph, and held communion with Him for whom they died. In that church I spend hours. I have no wish to descend into those sacred sepulchres, and pry among the graves the resurrection trump will open soon enough. I like to think of the holy dead, lying undisturbed and quiet there; of their spirits in Paradise; of their faith triumphant in the city that massacred them.

"No doubt they also had their perplexities, and wondered why the wicked triumph, and sighed to God, 'How long, O Lord, how long?'"—Schonberg Cotta Family.

"And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled."—Rev. vi. 9—11.

In the valley beneath S. Sebastiano are the ruins of the Circus of Maxentius, near those of a villa of that emperor. The circus was 1482 feet long, 244 feet broad, and was capable of containing 15,000 spectators, yet it is a miniature compared with the Circus Maximus, though very interesting as retaining in tolerable preservation all the different parts which composed a circus. The circular ruin near it was a Temple dedicated by Maxentius to his son Romulus.

"Le jeune Romulus, étant mort, fut placé au rang des dieux, dans cet olympe qui s'écroulait. Son père lui éleva un temple dont la partie inférieure se voit encore, et le cirque lui-même fut peut-être une dépendance de ce temple funèbre, car les courses de chars étaient un des honneurs que l'antiquité rendait aux morts, et sont souvent pour cela représentées sur les tombeaux."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 360.

These ruins are very picturesque, backed by the peaks of the Sabine range, which in winter are generally covered with snow.

The opposite hill is crowned by the Tomb of Cecilia Metella, daughter of Quintus Metellus Creticus, and wife of Crassus. It is a round tower, seventy feet in diameter. The bulls' heads on the frieze gave it the popular name of Capo di Bove. The marble coating of the basement was carried off by Urban VIII. to make the fountain of Trevi. The battlements were added when the tomb was turned into a fortress by the Caëtani in the thirteenth century.

"About two miles, or more, from the city gates, and right upon the roadside, is an immense round pile, sepulchral in its original purpose, like those already mentioned. It is built of great blocks of hewn stone, on a vast, square foundation of rough, agglomerated material, such as composes the mass of all the other ruinous tombs. But, whatever might be the cause, it is in a far better state of preservation than they. On its broad summit rise the battlements of a mediæval fortress, out of the midst of which (so long since had time begun to crumble the supplemental structure, and cover it with soil, by means of wayside dust) grow trees, bushes, and thick festoons of ivy. This tomb of a woman has become the dungeon-keep of a castle; and all the care that Cecilia Metella's husband could bestow, to secure endless peace for her beloved relics, only sufficed to make that handful of precious ashes the nucleus of battles, long ages after her death."—Hawthorne, Transformation.

"There is a stern round tower of other days,

Firm as a fortress, with its fence of stone,

Such as an army's baffled strength delays,

Standing with half its battlements alone,

And with two thousand years of ivy grown,

The garland of eternity, where wave

The green leaves over all by time o'erthrown;—

What was this tower of strength? within its cave

What treasure lay so lock'd, so hid?—a woman's grave.

"But who was she, the lady of the dead,

Tomb'd in a palace? Was she chaste and fair?

Worthy a king's—or more—a Roman's bed?

What race of chiefs and heroes did she bear?

What daughter of her beauties was the heir?

How lived—how loved—how died she? Was she not

So honoured—and conspicuously there,

Where meaner relics must not dare to rot,

Placed to commemorate a more than mortal lot?

"Perchance she died in youth: it may be, bow'd

With woes far heavier than the ponderous tomb

That weigh'd upon her gentle dust, a cloud

Might gather o'er her beauty, and a gloom

In her dark eye, prophetic of the doom

Heaven gives its favourites—early death; yet shed

A sunset charm around her, and illume

With hectic light, the Hesperus of the dead,

Of her consuming cheek the autumnal leaf-like red.

"Perchance she died in age—surviving all,

Charms, kindred, children—with the silver grey

On her long tresses, which might yet recall,

It may be, still a something of the day

When they were braided, and her proud array

And lovely form were envied, praised, and eyed

By Rome—but whither would Conjecture stray?

Thus much alone we know—Metella died,

The wealthiest Roman's wife: Behold his love or pride!"

Childe Harold.

Close to the tomb are the ruins of a Gothic church of the Caëtani.

"Le tombeau de Cecilia-Metella était devenu un château fort alors aux mains des Caëtani, et autour du château s'était formé un village avec son église, dont on a récemment retrouvé les restes."—Ampère, Voyage Dantesque.

It is at Cecilia Metella's tomb that the beauties of the Via Appia really begin. A very short distance further, we emerge from the walls which have hitherto shut in the road on either side, and enjoy uninterrupted views over the Latin plain, strewn with its ruined castles and villages—and the long lines of aqueducts, to the Sabine and Alban mountains.

"The Via Appia is a magnificent promenade, amongst ruinous tombs, the massive remains of which extend for many miles over the Roman Campagna. The powerful families of ancient Rome loved to build monuments to their dead by the side of the public road, probably to exhibit at once their affection for their relations and their own power and affluence. Most of these monuments are now nothing but heaps of ruins, upon which are placed the statues and sculptures which have been found in the earth or amongst the rubbish. Those inscriptions which have been found on the Via Appia bear witness to the grief of the living for the dead, but never to the hope of reunion. On a great number of sarcophagi or the friezes of tombs may be seen the dead sitting or lying as if they were alive, some seem to be praying. Many heads have great individuality of character. Sometimes a white marble figure, beautifully draped, projects from these heaps of ruins, but without head or hands; sometimes a hand is stretched out, or a portion of a figure rises from the tomb. It is a street through monuments of the dead, across an immense churchyard; for the desolate Roman Campagna may be regarded as such. To the left it is scattered with the ruins of colossal aqueducts, which, during the time of the emperors, conveyed lakes and rivers to Rome, and which still, ruinous and destroyed, delight the eye by the beautiful proportions of their arcades. To the right is an immense prairie, without any other limit than that of the ocean, which, however, is not seen from it. The country is desolate, and only here and there are there any huts or trees to be seen."—Frederika Bremer.

"For the space of a mile or two beyond the gate of S. Sebastiano, this ancient and famous road is as desolate and disagreeable as most of the other Roman avenues. It extends over small, uncomfortable paving-stones, between brick and plastered walls, which are very solidly constructed, and so high as almost to exclude a view of the surrounding country. The houses are of the most uninviting aspect, neither picturesque, nor homelike and social; they have seldom or never a door opening on the wayside, but are accessible only from the rear, and frown inhospitably upon the traveller through iron-grated windows. Here and there appears a dreary inn, or a wine-shop, designated by the withered bush beside the entrance, within which you discover a stone-built and sepulchral interior, where guests refresh themselves with sour bread and goat's-milk cheese, washed down with wine of dolorous acerbity.

"At frequent intervals along the roadside, up rises the ruin of an ancient tomb. As they stand now, these structures are immensely high, and broken mounds of conglomerated brick, stone, pebbles, and earth, all molten by time into a mass as solid and indestructible as if each tomb were composed of a single boulder of granite. When first erected, they were cased externally, no doubt, with slabs of polished marble, artfully wrought, bas-reliefs, and all such suitable adornments, and were rendered majestically beautiful by grand architectural designs. This antique splendour has long since been stolen from the dead, to decorate the palaces and churches of the living. Nothing remains to the dishonoured sepulchres, except their massiveness.

"Even the pyramids form hardly a stranger spectacle, or a more alien from human sympathies, than the tombs of the Appian Way, with their gigantic height, breadth, and solidity, defying time and the elements, and far too mighty to be demolished by an ordinary earthquake. Here you may see a modern dwelling, and a garden with its vines and olive-trees, perched on the lofty dilapidation of a tomb, which forms a precipice of fifty feet in depth on each of the four sides. There is a house on that funeral mound, where generations of children have been born, and successive lives have been spent, undisturbed by the ghost of the stern Roman whose ashes were so preposterously burdened. Other sepulchres wear a crown of grass, shrubbery, and forest-trees, which throw out a broad sweep of branches, having had time, twice over, to be a thousand years of age. On one of them stands a tower, which, though immemorially more modern than the tomb, was itself built by immemorial hands, and is now rifted quite from top to bottom by a vast fissure of decay; the tomb-hillock, its foundation, being still as firm as ever, and likely to endure until the last trump shall rend it wide asunder, and summon forth its unknown dead.

"Yes, its unknown dead! For, except in one or two doubtful instances, these mountainous sepulchral edifices have not availed to keep so much as the bare name of an individual or a family from oblivion. Ambitious of everlasting remembrance as they were, the slumberers might just as well have gone quietly to rest, each in his pigeon-hole of a columbarium, or under his little green hillock, in a grave-yard, without a headstone to mark the spot. It is rather satisfactory than otherwise, to think that all these idle pains have turned out so utterly abortive."—Hawthorne.

Near the fourth milestone, is the tomb of Marcus Servilius Quartus (with an inscription), restored by Canova in 1808. A bas-relief of the death of Atys, killed by Adrastus, a short distance beyond this, has been suggested as part of the tomb of Seneca, who was put to death "near the fourth milestone" by order of Nero. An inscribed tomb beyond this is that of Sextus Pompeius Justus.

Near this, in the Campagna on the left, are some small remains, supposed to be those of a Temple of Juno.

Beyond this a number of tombs can be identified, but none of any importance. Such are the tombs of Plinius Eutychius, erected by Plinius Zosimus, a freedman of Pliny the younger; of Caius Licinius; the Doric tomb of the tax-gatherer Claudius Philippanus, inscribed "Tito. Claudio. Secundo. Philippiano. Coactori. Flavia. Irene. Vxori Indulgentissimo;" of Rabinius, with three busts in relief; of Hermodorus; of Elsia Prima, priestess of Isis; of Marcus C. Cerdonus, with the bas-relief of an elephant bearing a burning altar.

Beyond the fifth milestone, two circular mounds with basements of peperino, were considered by Canina to be the tombs of the Horatii and Curiatii.

On the opposite side of the road is the exceedingly picturesque mediæval fortress, known as Torre Mezza Strada, into which are incorporated the remains of the Church of Sta. Maria Nuova, or della Gloria. Behind this extend a vast assemblage of ruins, which form a splendid foreground to the distant mountain view, and whose size has led to their receiving the popular epithet of Roma Vecchia. Here was the favourite villa of the Emperor Commodus, where he was residing, when the people, excited by a sudden impulse during the games of the Circus, rose and poured out of Rome against him—as the inhabitants of Paris to Versailles—and refused to depart, till, terrified into action by the entreaties of his concubine Marcia, he tossed the head of the unpopular Cleander to them out of the window, and had the brains of that minister's child dashed out against the stones. This villa is proved by the discovery of a number of pipes bearing their names to have been that of the brothers Condianus and Maximus, of the great family of the Quintilii, which was confiscated by Commodus.

"L'histoire des deux frères est intéressante et romanesque. Condianus et Maximus Quintilius étaient distingués par la science, les talents militaires, la richesse, et surtout par une tendresse mutuelle qui ne s'était jamais démentie. Servant toujours ensemble, l'un se faisait le lieutenant de l'autre. Bien qu'étrangers à toute conspiration, leur vertu les fit soupçonner d'être peu favorables à Commode; ils furent proscrits et moururent ensemble comme ils avaient vécu. L'un d'eux avait un fils nommé Sextus. Au moment de la mort de son père et de son oncle, ce fils se trouvait en Syrie. Pensant bien que le même sort l'attendait, il feignit de mourir pour sauver sa vie. Sextus, après avoir bu sang du lièvre, monta à cheval, se laissa tomber, vomit le sang qu'il avait pris et qui parut être son propre sang. On mit dans sa bière le corps d'un bélier qui passa pour son cadavre, et il disparut. Depuis ce temps, il erra sons divers déguisements; mais on sut qu'il avait échappé, et on se mit à sa recherche. Beaucoup furent tués parce-qu'ils lui ressemblaient ou parce-qu'ils étaient soupçonnés de lui avoir donné asile. Il n'est pas bien sûr qu'il ait été atteint, que sa tête se trouvât parmi celles qu'on apporta à Rome et qu'on dit être la sienne. Ce qui est certain, c'est qu'après la mort de Commode, un aventurier, tenté par la belle villa et par les grandes richesses des Quintilii, se donna pour Sextus et réclama son héritage. Il paraît ne pas avoir manqué d'adresse et avoir connu celui pour lequel il voulut qu'on le prît, car par ses réponses il se tira très-bien de toutes les enquêtes. Peut-être s'était-il lié avec Sextus et l'avait-il assassiné ensuite. Cependant l'empereur Pertinax, successeur de Commode, l'ayant fait venir, eut l'idée de lui parler grec. Le vrai Sextus connaissait parfaitement cette langue. Le faux Sextus, qui ne savait pas le grec, répondit tout de travers, et sa fraude fut ainsi découverte."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 253.

On the left of the Via Appia, appears a huge monument, on a narrow base, called the Tomb of the Metelli. Beyond this, after the fifth milestone, are the tombs of Sergius Demetrius, a wine merchant; of Lucius Arrius; of Septimia Gallia; and of one of the Cæcilii, in whose sepulchre, according to Eutropius, was buried Pomponius Atticus, the friend of Cicero, whose daughter Vipsania was the first wife of Agrippa, and whose granddaughter Vipsania Agrippina was the first wife of Tiberius.

Close to the sixth milestone is the mass of masonry sometimes called "Casale Rotondo," or "Cotta's Tomb," from that name being found there inscribed on a stone, but generally attributed to Messala Corvinus, the poet, and friend of Horace, and believed to have been raised to him by his son Valerius Maximus Cotta, mentioned in Ovid.

"Te autem in turba non ausim, Cotta, silere,

Pieridum lumen, præsidiumque fori."

Epist. xvi.

This tomb was even larger than that of Cecilia Metella, and was turned into a fortress by the Orsini in the fifteenth century.

Beyond this are tombs identified as those of P. Quintius, tribune of the sixteenth legion; Marcus Julius, steward of Claudius; Publius Decumius Philomusus (with appropriate bas-reliefs of two mice nibbling a cake); and of Cedritius Flaccianius.

Passing on the left the Tor di Selce, erected upon a huge unknown tomb, are the tombs of Titia Eucharis, and of Atilius Evodus, jeweller (margaritarius) on the Via Sacra, with the inscription, "Hospes resiste—aspice ubi continentur ossa hominis boni misericordis amantis pauperis." Near the eighth milestone are ruins attributed to the temples of Silvanus and of Hercules,—of which the latter is mentioned in Martial's Epigrams, beyond which were the villas of Bassus and of Persius. The last tomb identified is that of Quintus Verranius. Near the ninth milestone is a tomb supposed to be that of Gallienus (Imp. 268), who lived close by in a villa, amid the ruins of which "the Discobolus" was discovered.

From the stream called Pontecello, near the tenth milestone, the road gradually ascends to Albano, passing several large but unnamed tombs. At the Osteria delle Frattocchie it joins the Via Appia Nuova. Close to the gate of Albano, it passes on the left the tall tomb attributed to Pompey the Great, in accordance with the statement of Plutarch, and in spite of the epigram of Varro Atacinus, which says:—

"Marmoreo Licinius tumulo jacet; at Cato parvo;

Pompeius nullo: quis putet esse Deus."

Among the many processions which have passed along this road, perhaps the most remarkable have been that bearing back to Rome the dead body of Sylla, who died at Pozzuoli, "in a gilt litter, with royal ornaments, trumpets before him, and horsemen behind;"[223] and the funeral of Augustus, who dying at Nola (A.D. 14), was brought to Bovillæ, and remained there a month in the sanctuary of the Julian family, after which the knights brought the body in solemn procession to his palace on the Palatine.

But throughout a walk along the Appian Way, the one great Christian interest of this world-famous road, will, to the Christian visitor, overpower all others.

"And so we went toward Rome.

"And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii-forum, and the Three Taverns: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage.

"And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard; but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself, with a soldier that kept him."—Acts xxviii. 14—16.

"It is not without its manifold uses to remember that, amidst the dim and wavering traditions of later times, one figure at least stands out clear and distinct and undoubted, and this figure is the Apostle Paul. He, whatever we may think concerning any other apostle or apostolic man in connection with Rome, he, beyond a shadow of doubt, appears in the New Testament as her great teacher. No criticism or scepticism of modern times has ever questioned the perfect authenticity of that last chapter of the Acts, which gives the account of his journey, stage by stage, till he set foot within the walls of the city. However much we may be compelled to distrust any particular traditions concerning special localities of his life and death, we cannot doubt for a moment that his eye rested on the same general view of sky and plain and mountain; that his feet trod the pavement of the same Appian road; that his way lay through the same long avenue of ancient tombs on which we now look and wonder; that he entered (and there we have our last authentic glimpse of his progress) through the arch of Drusus, and then is lost to our view in the great Babylon of Rome."—A. P. Stanley's Sermons.

"When St. Paul was approaching Rome, all the bases of the mountains were (as indeed they are partially now) clustered round with the villas and gardens of wealthy citizens. The Appian Way climbs and then descends along its southern slope. After passing Lanuvium it crossed a crater-like valley or immense substructions, which still remain. Here is Aricia, an easy stage from Rome. The town was above the road, and on the hillside swarms of beggars beset travellers as they passed. On the summit of the next rise, Paul of Tarsus would obtain his first view of Rome. There is no doubt that the prospect was, in many respects, very different from the view which is now obtained from the same spot. It is true that the natural features of the scene are unaltered. The long wall of blue Sabine mountains, with Soracte in the distance, closed in the Campagna, which stretched far across to the sea and round the base of the Alban hills. But ancient Rome was not, like modern Rome, impressive from its solitude, standing alone, with its one conspicuous cupola, in the midst of a desolate though beautiful waste. St. Paul would see a vast city, covering the Campagna, and almost continuously connected by its suburbs with the villas on the hill where he stood, and with the bright towns which clustered on the sides of the mountains opposite. Over all the intermediate space were the houses and gardens, through which aqueducts and roads might be traced in converging lines towards the confused mass of edifices which formed the city of Rome. Here no conspicuous building, elevated above the rest, attracted the eye or the imagination. Ancient Rome had neither cupola nor campanile, still less had it any of those spires which give life to all the capitals of northern Christendom. It was a widespread aggregate of buildings, which, though separated by narrow streets and open spaces, appeared, when seen from near Aricia, blended into one indiscriminate mass: for distance concealed the contrasts which divided the crowded habitations of the poor and the dark haunts of filth and misery—from the theatres and colonnades, the baths, the temples, and palaces with gilded roofs, flashing back the sun.

"The road descended into the plain at Bovillæ, six miles from Aricia: and thence it proceeded in a straight line, with the sepulchres of illustrious families on either hand. One of these was the burial-place of the Julian gens, with which the centurion who had charge of the prisoners was in some way connected. As they proceeded over the old pavement, among gardens and modern houses, and approached nearer the busy metropolis—the 'conflux issuing forth or entering in' in various costumes and on various errands,—vehicles, horsemen, and foot-passengers, soldiers and labourers, Romans and foreigners,—became more crowded and confusing. The houses grew closer. They were already in Rome. It was impossible to define the commencement of the city. Its populous portions extended far beyond the limits marked out by Servius. The ancient wall, with its once sacred pomœrium, was rather an object for antiquarian interest, like the walls of York or Chester, than any protection against the enemies, who were kept far aloof by the legions on the frontier.

"Yet the Porta Capena is a spot which we can hardly leave without lingering for a moment. Under this arch—which was perpetually dripping with the water of the aqueduct that went over it—had passed all those who, since a remote period of the republic, had travelled by the Appian Way,—victorious generals with their legions, returning from foreign service,—emperors and courtiers, vagrant representatives of every form of heathenism, Greeks and Asiatics, Jews and Christians. From this point entering within the city, Julius and his prisoners moved on, with the Aventine on their left, close round the base of the Cœlian, and through the hollow ground which lay between this hill and the Palatine: thence over the low ridge called Velia, where afterwards was built the arch of Titus, to commemorate the destruction of Jerusalem; and then descending, by the Via Sacra, into that space which was the centre of imperial power and imperial magnificence, and associated also with the most glorious recollections of the republic. The Forum was to Rome, what the Acropolis was to Athens, the heart of all the characteristic interest of the place. Here was the Milliarium Aureum, to which the roads of all the provinces converged. All around were the stately buildings, which were raised in the closing years of the republic, and by the earlier emperors. In front was the Capitoline Hill, illustrious long before the invasion of the Gauls. Close on the left, covering that hill, whose name is associated in every modern European language with the notion of imperial splendour, were the vast ranges of the palace—the 'house of Cæsar' (Philipp. iv. 22). Here were the household troops quartered in a prætorium attached to the palace. And here (unless, indeed, it was in the great Prætorian Camp outside the city wall) Julius gave up his prisoner to Burrus, the Prætorian Prefect, whose official duty it was to keep in custody all accused persons who were to be tried before the Emperor."—Conybeare and Howson.

CHAPTER X.

THE QUIRINAL AND VIMINAL.

Palazzo Barberini—Palazzo Albani—S. Carlo a Quattro Fontane—S. Andrea a Monte Cavallo—Quirinal Palace—Palazzo della Consulta—Palazzo Rospigliosi—Colonna Gardens and Temple of the Sun—S. Silvestro a Monte Cavallo—Sta. Caterina di Siena—SS. Domenico e Sisto—Sta. Agata dei Goti—Sta. Maria in Monte—S. Lorenzo Pane e Perna—Sta. Pudenziana—S. Paolo Primo Eremita—S. Dionisio—S. Vitale.

IT is difficult to determine the exact limits of what in ancient times were regarded as the Quirinal and Viminal hills. They, like the Esquiline and Cœlian, are "in fact merely spurs or tongues of hill, projecting inwards from a common base, the broad table-land, which slopes on the other side almost imperceptibly into the Campagna."[224] That, which is described in this chapter as belonging to these two hills, is chiefly the district to the right of the Via Quattro Fontane, and its continuations—which extend in a straight line to Sta. Maria Maggiore.

The Quirinal, like all the other hills, except the Palatine and the Cœlian, belonged to the Sabines in the early period of Roman history, and is full of records of their occupation. They had a Capitol here which is believed to have been long anterior to that on the Capitoline, and which was crowned by a temple of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. This Sabine capitol occupied the site of the present Palazzo Rospigliosi.

The name Quirinal is derived from the Sabine word Quiris—signifying a lance, which gave the Sabines their name of Quirites, or lance-bearers, and to their god the name Quirinus.[225] After his death Romulus received this title, and an important temple was raised to him on the Quirinal by Numa,[226] under this name, thus identifying him with Janus Quirinus, the national god. This temple was surrounded by a sacred grove mentioned by Ovid.[227] It was rebuilt by the consul L. Papirius Cursor, to commemorate his triumph after the third Samnite war, B.C. 293, when he adorned it with a sun-dial (solarium horologium), the first set up in Rome, which, however, not being constructed for the right latitude, did not show the time correctly. This defect was not remedied till nearly a century afterwards, when Q. Marcius Philippus set up a correct dial.[228] In front of this temple grew two celebrated myrtle-trees, one called Patricia, the other Plebeia, which shared the fortunes of their respective orders, as the orange-tree at Sta. Sabina now does that of the Dominicans. Thus, up to the fifth century, Patricia flourished gloriously, and Plebeia pined; but from the time when the plebeians completely gained the upper hand, Patricia withered away.[229] The temple was rebuilt by Augustus, and Dion Cassius states that the number of pillars by which it was surrounded accorded with that of the years of his life.[230]

Adjoining the temple was a portico:

"Vicini pete porticum Quirini:

Turbam non habet otiosiorem

Pompeius."

Martial, xi. Ep. i.

——"Officium cras

Primo sole mihi peragendum in valle Quirini."

Juvenal, Sat. ii. 132.

Hard by was a temple of Fortuna Publica,

"Qui dicet, Quondam sacrata est colle Quirini

Hac Fortuna die Publica; verus erit."

Ovid, Fast. iv. 375.

also an altar to Mamurius, an ancient Sabine divinity, probably identical with Mars, and a temple of Salus, or Health, which gave a name to the Porta Salutaria, which must have stood nearly on the site of the present Quattro Fontane, and near which, not inappropriately, was a temple of Fever, in the Via S. Vitale, where fever is still prevalent.

The site of the temple of Quirinus is ascertained to have been nearly that now occupied by S. Andrea a Monte Cavallo. On the opposite side of the street, where part of the papal palace now stands, was the temple of Semo-Sanctus, the reputed father of Sabinus. Between these two temples was the House of Pomponius Atticus (the friend and correspondent of Cicero), a situation which gave an opportunity for the witticism of Cicero when he said that Caesar would rather dwell with Quirinus than with Salus, meaning that he would rather be at war than be in good health.[231]

In the same neighbourhood lived Martial the epigrammatist, "on the third floor, in a narrow street," whence he had a view as far as the portico of Agrippa, near the Flaminian Way. Below, probably on the site now occupied by the Piazza Barberini, was a Circus of Flora.

"Mater, ades, florum, ludis celebranda jocosis:

Distuleram partes mense priore tuas.

Incipis Aprili: transis in tempora Maii.

Alter te, fugiens; cum venit, alter habet.

Quum tua sint cedantque tibi confinia mensum,

Convenit in laudes ille vel ille tuas.

Circus in hunc exit, clamataque palma theatris:

Hoc quoque cum Circi munere carmen eat."

Ovid, Fast. v. 183.

Among the great families who lived on the Quirinal were the Cornelii, who had a street of their own, Vicus Corneliorum, probably on the slopes behind the present Colonna Palace; and the Flavii, who were of Sabine origin.[232] Domitian was born here in the house of the Flavii, afterwards consecrated by him as a temple, in which Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian himself were buried, and Julia the ugly daughter of Titus—well known from her statues in the Vatican.

As some fragments remain of the two buildings erected on the Quirinal during the later empire, Aurelian's Temple of the Sun, and the Baths of Constantine, they will be noticed in the regular course.

On the ascent of the hill, just above the Piazza del Tritone, is the noble Barberini Palace, built by Urban VIII. from designs of Carlo Maderno, continued by Borromini, and finished by Bernini, in 1640. It is screened from the street by a magnificent railing between columns, erected 1865—67, and if this railing could be continued, and the block of houses towards the piazza removed, it would be far the most splendid private palace in Rome.

This immense building is a memorial of the magnificence and ambition of Urban VIII. Its size is enormous, the smallest apartment in the palace containing forty rooms. The Prince at present inhabits the right wing; with him lives his elder brother the Duke, who abdicated the family honours in his favour. In the left wing—occupied in the beginning of this century by the ex-king (Charles VII.) and queen of Spain, and the "Prince of Peace"—is the huge apartment of the late Cardinal Barberini, now uninhabited. On this side is the grand staircase, upon which is placed a lion in high relief, found on the family property at Palestrina. It is before this lion that Canova is said to have lain for hours upon the pavement, studying for his tomb of Clement XIII. in St. Peter's. The guarda-roba, badly kept, contains many curious relics of family grandeur; amongst them is a sedan-chair, painted by Titian.

The Library (open on Thursdays from nine to two) contains a most valuable collection of MSS., about 7000 in number, brought together by Cardinal Francesco Barberini, nephew of Urban VIII. They include collections of letters of Galileo, Bembo, and Bellarmine; the official reports to Urban VIII., relating to the state of Catholicism in England in the time of Charles I.; a copy of the Bible in the Samaritan character; a Bible of the fourth century; several MSS. copies of Dante; a missal illuminated by Ghirlandajo; and a book of sketches of ancient Roman edifices, of 1465, by Giuliano de Sangallo,—most interesting to the antiquarian and architect, as preserving the forms of many public buildings which have disappeared since that date. Among the 50,000 printed books is a Hebrew Bible of 1788, one of the twelve known copies of the complete edition of Soncino; a Latin Plato, by Ficino, with marginal notes by Tasso and his father Bernardo; a Dante of 1477, with notes by Bembo, &c.

In the right wing is a huge Hall (adorned with second-rate statues), with a grand ceiling by Pietro da Cortona (1596—1669), representing "Il Trionfo della Gloria," the Forge of Vulcan, Minerva annihilating the Titans, and other mythological subjects—much admired by Lanzi, and considered by Kugler to be the most important work of the artist. Four vast frescoes of the Fathers of the Church are preserved here, having been removed from the dome of St. Peter's, where they were replaced with mosaics by Urban VIII. Below are other frescoes by Pietro da Cortona, a portrait of Urban VIII., and some tapestries illustrative of the events of his reign and of his own intense self-esteem—thus the Virgin and Angels are represented bringing in the ornaments of the papacy at his coronation, &c. But the conceit of Pope Urban reaches its climax in a room at the top of the house, which exhibits a number of the Barberini bees (the family crest) flocking against the sun, and eclipsing it—to typify the splendour of the family. The Will of Pope Urban VIII. is a very curious document, providing against the extinction of the family in every apparent contingency; this, however, now seems likely to take place; the heir is a Sciarra. The pillars in front of the palace, and all the surrounding buildings, teem with the bees of the Barberini, which may also be seen on the Propaganda and many other great Roman edifices, and which are creeping up the robe of Urban VIII. in St. Peter's.

"The Barberini were the last papal nephews who aspired to independent principalities. Urban VIII., though he enriched them enormously, appears to have been but little satisfied with them. He used to complain that he had four relations who were fit for nothing, the first, Cardinal Francesco, was a saint, and worked no miracles: the second, Cardinal Antonio, was a monk, and had no patience: the third, Cardinal Antonio the younger, was an orator (i.e. an ambassador), and did not know how to speak: and the fourth was a general, who could not draw a sword."—Goethe, Romische Briefe.

On the right, on entering the palace, is the small Collection of Pictures (open when the custode chooses to be there), indifferently lodged for a building so magnificent. We may notice:—

2nd Room.—

34. Urban VIII.: Andrea Sacchi.

35. A Cardinal: Titian.

48. Madonna and Child, St. John, and St Jerome: Francia.

54. Madonna and Child: Sodoma.

58. Madonna and Child: Giovanni Bellini.

63. Daughter of Raphael Mengs: Mengs.

67. Portrait of himself: Masaccio.

74. Adam and Eve: Domenichino.

3rd Room.—

73. The "Schiava:" Palma Vecchio.

"The so-called Slave (a totally unmeaning name) is probably a mere school picture, of grand beauty, but with too clumsy a style of drapery, too cold an expression, and too brown a carnation for Titian—to whom it is attributed."—Kugler.

76. Castel Gandolfo: Claude Lorraine.

78. Portrait: Bronzino.

79. Christ among the Doctors—painted in five days, in 1506: Albert Durer.

81. "The mother of Beatrice Cenci"? Caravaggio.

82. The Fornarina (with the painter's name on the armlet): Raphael.

"The history of this person, to whom Raphael was attached even to his death, is obscure, nor are we very clear with regard to her likenesses. In the tribune at Florence there is a portrait, inscribed with the date 1512, of a very beautiful woman holding the fur trimming of her mantle with her right hand, which is said to represent her. The picture is decidedly by Raphael, but can hardly represent the Fornarina; at least it has no resemblance to this portrait, which has the name of Raphael on the armlet, and of the authenticity of which (particularly with respect to the subject) there can hardly be a doubt. In this the figure is seated, and is uncovered to the waist; she draws a light drapery around her; a shawl is twisted round her head. The execution is beautiful and delicate, although the lines are sufficiently defined; the forms are fine and not without beauty, but at the same time not free from an expression of coarseness and common life. The eyes are large, dark, and full of fire, and seem to speak of brighter days. There are repetitions of this picture, from the school of Raphael, in Roman galleries."—Kugler.

86. Death of Germanicus: Poussin.

88. Seaport: Claude Lorraine.

90. Holy Family: Andrea del Sarto.

93. Annunciation: Botticelli.

But the interest of this collection centres entirely around two portraits—that (81) of Lucrezia, the unhappy wife of Francesco Cenci, by Scipione Gaetani, and that (85) of Beatrice Cenci, by Guido Reni.

"The portrait of Beatrice Cenci is most interesting as a just representation of one of the loveliest specimens of the workmanship of nature. There is a fixed and pale composure upon the features; she seems sad and stricken down in spirit, yet the despair thus expressed is lightened by the patience of gentleness. Her head is bound with folds of white drapery, from which the yellow strings of her golden hair escape, and fall about her neck. The moulding of her face is exquisitely delicate; the eyebrows are distinct and arched; the lips have that permanent meaning of imagination and sensibility which suffering has not repressed, and which it seems as if death scarcely could extinguish. Her forehead is large and clear; her eyes, which we are told were remarkable for their vivacity, are swollen with weeping, and lustreless, but beautifully tender and serene. In the whole mien there is a simplicity and dignity, which, united with her exquisite loveliness and deep sorrow, is inexpressibly pathetic. Beatrice Cenci appears to have been one of those persons in whom energy and gentleness dwell together without destroying one another; her nature simple and profound. The crimes and miseries in which she was an actor and sufferer, are as the mask and the mantle in which circumstances clothed her for her impersonation on the scene of the world."—Shelley's Preface to the Cenci.

"The picture of Beatrice Cenci represents simply a female head; a very youthful, girlish, perfectly beautiful face, enveloped in white drapery, from beneath which strays a lock or two of what seems a rich, though hidden luxuriance of auburn hair. The eyes are large and brown, and meet those of the spectator, evidently with a strange, ineffectual effort to escape. There is a little redness about the eyes, very slightly indicated, so that you would question whether or no the girl had been weeping. The whole face is very quiet; there is no distortion or disturbance of any single feature; nor is it easy to see why the expression is not cheerful, or why a single touch of the artist's pencil should not brighten it into joyousness. But, in fact, it is the very saddest picture ever painted or conceived; it involves an unfathomable depth of sorrow, the sense of which comes to the observer by a sort of intuition. It is a sorrow that removes this beautiful girl out of the sphere of humanity, and sets her in a far-off region, the remoteness of which, while yet her face is so close before us,—makes us shiver as at a spectre. You feel all the time you look at Beatrice, as if she were trying to escape from your gaze. She knows that her sorrow is so strange and immense, that she ought to be solitary for ever both for the world's sake and her own; and this is the reason we feel such a distance between Beatrice and ourselves, even when our eyes meet hers. It is infinitely heart-breaking to meet her glance, and to know that nothing can be done to help or comfort her, neither does she ask help or comfort, knowing the hopelessness of her case better than we do. She is a fallen angel—fallen and yet sinless: and it is only this depth of sorrow with its weight and darkness, that keeps her down to earth, and brings her within our view even while it sets her beyond our reach."—Hawthorne, Transformation.

"The portrait of Beatrice Cenci is a picture almost impossible to be forgotten. Through the transcendent sweetness and beauty of the face, there is a something shining out that haunts me. I see it now, as I see this paper, or my pen. The head is loosely draped in white; the light hair falling down below the linen folds. She has turned suddenly towards you; and there is an expression in the eyes—although they are very tender and gentle—as if the wildness of a momentary terror, or distraction, had been struggled with and overcome, that instant; and nothing but a celestial hope, and a beautiful sorrow, and a desolate earthly helplessness remained. Some stories say that Guido painted it the night before her execution; some other stories, that he painted it from memory, after having seen her on her way to the scaffold. I am willing to believe that, as you see her on his canvas, so she turned towards him, in the crowd, from the first sight of the axe, and stamped upon his mind a look which he has stamped on mine as though I had stood beside him in the concourse. The guilty palace of the Cenci: blighting a whole quarter of the town, as it stands withering away by grains: had that face, to my fancy, in its dismal porch, and at its black blind windows, and flitting up and down its dreary stairs, and growing out of the darkness of its ghostly galleries. The history is written in the painting; written, in the dying girl's face, by Nature's own hand. And oh! how in that one touch she puts to flight (instead of making kin) the puny world that claims to be related to her, in right of poor conventional forgeries!"—Dickens.

"Five days had been passed by Beatrice in the secret prisons of the Torre Savella, when, at an early hour in the morning, her advocate, Farinacci, entered her sad abode. With him appeared a young man of about twenty-five years of age, dressed in the fashion of a writer in the courts of justice of that day. Unheeded by Beatrice, he sat regarding her at a little distance with fixed attention. She had risen from her miserable pallet, but, unlike the wretched inmate of a dungeon, she seemed a being from a brighter sphere. Her eyes were of liquid softness, her forehead large and clear, her countenance of angelic purity, mysteriously beautiful. Around her head a fold of white muslin had been carelessly wrapped, from whence in rich luxuriance fell her fair and waving hair. Profound sorrow imparted an air of touching sensibility to her lovely features. With all the eagerness of hope, she begged Farinacci to tell her frankly if his visit foreboded good, and assured him of her gratitude for the anxiety he evinced, to save her life and that of her family.

"Farinacci conversed with her for some time, while at a distance sat his companion, sketching the features of Beatrice. Turning round, she observed this with displeasure and surprise; Farinacci explained that this seeming writer was the celebrated painter, Guido Reni, who, earnestly desiring her picture, had entreated to be introduced into the prison for the purpose of obtaining so rich an acquisition. At first unwilling, but afterwards consenting, she turned and said, 'Signor Guido, your renown might make me desirous of knowing you, but how will you undervalue me in my present situation. From the fatality that surrounds me, you will judge me guilty. Perhaps my face will tell you I am not wicked; it will show you, too, that I now languish in this prison, which I may quit, only to ascend the scaffold. Your great name, and my sad story, may make my portrait interesting, and,' she added, with touching simplicity, 'the picture will awaken compassion if you write on one of its angles the word, innocente.' The great artist set himself to work, and produced the picture now in the Palazzo Barberini, a picture that rivets the attention of every beholder, which, once seen, ever after hovers over the memory with an interest the most harrowing and mysterious."—From "Beatrice Cenci, Storia del Secolo XVI., Raccontata dal D.A.A., Firenze." Whiteside's Translation.

There is a pretty old-fashioned garden belonging to this palace, at one corner of which—overhanging an old statue—was the celebrated Barberini Pine, often drawn by artists from the Via Sterrata at the back of the garden, where statue and pine combined well with the Church of S. Caio; but, alas, this magnificent tree was cut down in 1872.

At the back of the palace-court, behind the arched bridge leading to the garden, is—let into the wall—an inscription which formed part of the dedication of an arch erected to Claudius by the senate and people, in honour of the conquest of Britain. The letters were inlaid with bronze. It was found near the Palazzo Sciarra, where the arch is supposed to have stood.

Ascending to the summit of the hill, we find four ugly statues of river-gods, lying over the Quattro Fontane, from which the street takes its name.

On the left is the Palazzo Albani, recently restored by Queen Christina of Spain.

"In one of its rooms is a very ancient painting of Jupiter and Ganymede, in a very uncommon style, uniting considerable grandeur of conception, great force and decision, and a deep tone and colour which produce great effect. It is said to be Grecian."—Eaton's Rome.

The opposite church, S. Carlo a Quattro Fontane, is worth observing from the fact that the whole building, church and convent, corresponds with one of the four piers supporting the cupola of St. Peter's. Here was formed the point of attack against the Quirinal Palace, November 16, 1848, which caused the flight of Pius IX., and the downfall of his government. From a window of this convent the shot was fired which killed Monsignor Palma, one of the pontifical secretaries, and a writer on ecclesiastical history—who had unfortunately exposed himself at one of the windows opposite. The church contains two pictures by Mignard relating to the history of S. Carlo.

Turning down Via del Quirinale, on the left is S. Andrea a Monte Cavallo (on the supposed site of the temple of Quirinus), erected, as it is told by an inscription inside, by Camillo Pamphili, nephew of Innocent X., from designs of Bernini. It has a Corinthian façade and a projecting semicircular portico with Ionic columns. The interior is oval. It is exceedingly rich, being almost entirely lined with red marble streaked with white (Sicilian jasper), divided by white marble pillars supporting a gilt cupola. The high altar—supposed to cover the body of St. Zeno—between really magnificent pillars, is surmounted by a fine picture, by Borgognone, of the crucifixion of St. Andrew. Near this is the tomb, by Festa, of Emmanuel IV., king of Sardinia, who abdicated his throne in 1802, to become a Jesuit monk in the adjoining convent, where he died in 1818. On the right is the chapel of Santa Croce, with three pictures of the passion and death of Christ by Brandini; and that of St. Francis Xavier, with three pictures by Baciccio, representing the saint preaching,—baptizing an Indian queen,—and lying dead in the island of Sancian in China. On the left is the chapel of the Virgin, with pictures, by David, of the three great Jesuit saints—St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Francis Borgia, and St. Luigi Gonzaga—adoring the Virgin, and, by Gerard de la Nuit, of the Adoration of the Shepherds and of the Magi; and lastly the chapel of S. Stanislas Kostka, containing his shrine of gold and lapis-lazuli, under an exceedingly rich altar, which is adorned with a beautiful picture by Carlo Maratta, representing the saint receiving the Infant Jesus from the arms of his mother. At the sides of the chapel are two other pictures by Maratta, one of which represents S. Stanislas "bathing with water his breast inflamed with divine love," the other his receiving the host from the hands of an angel. These are the three principal incidents in the story of the young S. Stanislas, who belonged to a noble Polish family and abandoned the world to shut himself up here, saying, "I am not born for the good things of this world; that which my heart desires is the good things of eternity."

"I have long ago exhausted all my capacity of admiration for splendid interiors of churches; but methinks this little, little temple (it is not more than fifty or sixty feet across) has a more perfect and gem-like beauty than any other. Its shape is oval, with an oval dome, and above that another little dome, both of which are magnificently frescoed. Around the base of the larger dome is wreathed a flight of angels, and the smaller and upper one is encircled by a garland of cherubs—cherub and angel all of pure white marble. The oval centre of the church is walled round with precious and lustrous marble, of a red-veined variety, interspersed with columns and pilasters of white; and there are arches, opening through this rich wall, forming chapels, which the architect seems to have striven hard to make even more gorgeous than the main body of the church. The pavement is one star of various tinted marble."—Hawthorne, Notes on Italy.

The adjoining Convent of the Noviciate of the Order of Jesus contains the room in which S. Stanislas Kostka died, at the age of eighteen, with his reclining statue by Le Gros, the body in white, his dress (that of a novice) in black, and the couch upon which he lies in yellow marble. Behind his statue is a picture of a celestial vision which consoled him in his last moments. On the day of his death, November 13, the convent is thrown open, and mass is said without ceasing in this chamber, which is visited by thousands.

"La petite chambre de S. Stanislas Kostka, est un de ces lieux où la prière naît spontanément dans le cœur, et s'en échappe comme par un cours naturel."—Veuillot, Parfum de Rome.[233]

In the convent garden is shown the fountain where "the angels used to bathe the breast of S. Stanislas burning with the love of Christ."

Passing the Benedictine convent, with a courtyard containing an old sarcophagus as a fountain, and a humble church decorated with rude frescoes of St. Benedict and Sta. Scholastica, we reach a small and popular church, rich in marbles, belonging to the Perpetua Adoratrice del Divin Sacramento del Altare, founded by sister Maddalena of the Incarnation, who died 1829, and is buried on the right of the entrance. Here the low monotonous chant of the perpetual adoration may be constantly heard.

The Piazza of the Monte Cavallo has in its centre the red granite obelisk (ninety-five feet high with its base) erected here by Antinori in 1781, for Pius VI. It was originally brought from Egypt by Claudius, A.D. 57, together with the obelisk now in front of Sta. Maria Maggiore, and they were both first placed at the entrance of the mausoleum of Augustus. At its base are the colossal statues found in the baths of Constantine, of the Dioscuri Castor and Pollux reining in their horses. These statues give a name to the district. Their bases bear the names of Phidias and Praxiteles, and though their claim to be the work of such distinguished sculptors is doubtful, they are certainly of Greek origin. Copies of these statues at Berlin have received the nicknames of Gehemmter Fortschritt, and Beförderter Rückschritt,—Progress checked and Retrogression encouraged.

"At the time when the Mirabilia Romæ were published, that is, about the thirteenth century, these statues were believed to represent the young philosophers, Praxiteles and Phidias, who came to Rome during the reign of Tiberius, and promised to tell him his most secret words and actions provided he would honour them with a monument. Having performed their promise, they obtained these statues, which represent them naked, because all human science was naked and open to their eyes. From this fable, wild and absurd as it is, we may nevertheless draw the inference that the statues had been handed down from time immemorial as the works of Phidias and Praxiteles, though those artists had in the lapse of ages been metamorphosed into philosophers. May we not also assume the existence of a tradition that the statues were brought to Rome in the reign of Tiberius? In the middle ages the group appears to have been accompanied by a statue of Medusa, sitting at their feet, and having before her a shell. According to the text of the Mirabilia, as given by Montfaucon in his Diarium Italicum, this figure represented the Church. The snakes which surrounded her typified the volumes of Scripture, which nobody could approach unless he had first been washed—that is, baptized—in the water of the shell. But the Prague MS. of the Mirabilia interprets the female figure to represent Science, and the serpents to typify the disputed questions with which she is concerned."—Dyer's Hist. of the City of Rome.

"L'imitation du grand style de Phidias est visible dans plusieurs sculptures qu'il a inspirées, et surtout dans les colosses de Castor et Pollux, domptant des chevaux, qui ont fait donner à une partie du mont Quirinal le nom de Monte Cavallo.

"Il ne faut faire aucune attention aux inscriptions qui attribuent un des deux colosses à Phidias et l'autre à Praxitèle, Praxitèle dont le style n'a rien à faire ici; son nom a été inscrit sur la base de l'une des deux statues, comme Phèdre le reprochait déjà à des faussaires du temps d'Auguste, qui croyaient augmenter le mérite d'un nouvel ouvrage en y mettant le nom de Praxitèle. Quelle que soit l'époque où les colosses de Monte Cavallo ont été exécutés, malgré quelques différences, on doit affirmer que les deux originaux étaient de la même école, de l'école de Phidias."—Ampère, Hist. Romaine, iii. 252.

"Chacun des deux héros dompte d'une seule main un cheval fougueux qui se cabre. Ces formes colossales, cette lutte de l'homme avec les animaux, donnent, comme tous les ouvrages des anciens, une admirable idée de la puissance physique de la nature humaine."—Mad. de Staël.

"Ye too, marvellous Twain, that erect on the Monte Cavallo

Stand by your rearing steeds in the grace of your motionless movement,

Stand with your upstretched arms and tranquil regardant faces,

Stand as instinct with life in the might of immutable manhood,—

O ye mighty and strange, ye ancient divine ones of Hellas."

A. H. Clough.

"Before me were the two Monte Cavallo statues, towering gigantically above the pygmies of the present day, and looking like Titans in the act of threatening heaven. Over my head the stars were just beginning to look out, and might have been taken for guardian angels keeping watch over the temples below. Behind, and on my left, were palaces; on my right, gardens, and hills beyond, with the orange tints of sunset over them still glowing in the distance. Within a stone's throw of me, in the midst of objects thus glorious in themselves, and thus in harmony with each other, was stuck an unplaned post, on which glimmered a paper lantern. Such is Rome."—Guesses at Truth.

Close by is a fountain playing into a fine bason of Egyptian granite, brought hither by Pius VII. from the Forum, where it had long been used for watering cattle.

On the left, is the Palace of the Consulta, built in 1730 by Clement XII. (Corsini), from designs of Fuga. Before its gates, under the old regime, some of the Papal Guardia Nobile were always to be seen sunning themselves in a uniform so resplendent that it could scarcely be believed that the pay of this "noble guard" of the Pope amounted only to £5 6s. 3d. a month!

On the right, is the immense Palace of the Quirinal, which also extends along one whole side of the street we have been pursuing.

"That palace-building, ruin-destroying pope, Paul IV., began to erect the enormous palace on the Quirinal Hill; and the prolongation of his labours, by a long series of successive pontiffs, has made it one of the largest and ugliest buildings extant."—Eaton's Rome.

The chief, indeed almost the only, interest of this palace arises from its having been the favourite residence of Pius VII. (Chiaramonte). It was here that he was taken prisoner by the French. General Radet forced his way into the pope's room on the night of June 6, 1809, and, while excusing himself for being the messenger, hastily intimated to the pontiff, in the name of the emperor, that he must at once abdicate his temporal sovereignty. Pius absolutely refused, upon which he was forced to descend the staircase, and found a coach waiting at the entrance of the palace. Here the pope paused, his face streaming with tears, and, standing in the starlit piazza, solemnly extended his arms in benediction over his sleeping people. Then he entered the carriage, followed by Cardinal Pacca, and was hurried away to exile.... "Whirled away through the heat and dust of an Italian summer's day, without an attendant, without linen, without his spectacles—fevered and wearied, he never for a moment lost his serenity. Cardinal Pacca tells us, that when they had just started on this most dismal of journeys, the pope asked him if he had any money. The secretary of state replied that he had had no opportunity of providing himself. 'We then drew forth our purses,' continues the cardinal, 'and notwithstanding the state of affliction we were in at being thus torn away from Rome, and all that was dear to us, we could hardly compose our countenances, on finding the contents of each purse to consist—of the pope's, of a papetto (10d.), and of mine, of three grossi (7½d.). We had precisely thirty-five baiocchi between us. The pope, extending his hand, showed his papetto to General Radet, saying, at the same time, 'Look here—this is all I possess.'"[234].... Six years after, Napoleon was sent to St. Helena, and Pius VII. returned in triumph to Rome!

It was from this same palace that Pius IX.—who has never inhabited it since—made his escape to Gaeta during the revolution of 1848, when the siege of the Quirinal by the insurgents had succeeded in extorting the appointment of a democratic ministry.

"On the afternoon of the 24th of November, the Duc d'Harcourt had arrived at the Quirinal in his coach as ambassador of France, and craved an audience of the sovereign. The guards wondered that he stayed so long; but they knew not that he sat reading the newspapers in the papal study, while the pope had retired to his bed-room to change his dress. Here his major-domo, Filippani, had laid out the black cassock and dress of an ordinary priest. The pontiff took off his purple stole and white pontifical robe, and came forth in the simple garb he had worn in his quiet youth. The Duc d'Harcourt threw himself on his knees exclaiming, 'Go forth, holy Father; divine wisdom inspires this counsel, divine power will lead it to a happy end.' By secret passages and narrow staircases, Pius IX. and his trusty servant passed unseen to a little door, used only occasionally for the Swiss guards, and by which they were to leave the palace. They reached it, and bethought them that the key had been forgotten! Filippani hastened back to the papal apartment to fetch it; and returning unquestioned to the wicket, found the pontiff on his knees, and quite absorbed in prayer. The wards were rusty, and the key turned with difficulty; but the door was opened at last, and the holy fugitive and his servant quickly entered a poor hackney coach that was waiting for them outside. Here, again, they ran risk of being discovered through the thoughtless adherence to old etiquette of the other servant, who stood by the coach, and who, having let down the steps, knelt, as usual, before he shut the door.

"The pope wore a dark great coat over his priest's cassock, a low-crowned round hat, and a broad brown woollen neckcloth outside his straight Roman collar. Filippani had on his usual loose cloak; but under this he carried the three-cornered hat of the pope, a bundle of the most private and secret papers, the papal seals, the breviary, the cross-embroidered slippers, a small quantity of linen, and a little box full of gold medals stamped with the likeness of his Holiness. From the inside of the carriage, he directed the coachman to follow many winding and diverging streets, in the hope of misleading the spies, who were known to swarm at every corner. Beside the Church of SS. Pietro e Marcellino, in the deserted quarter beyond the Coliseum, they found the Bavarian minister, Count Spaur, waiting in his own private carriage, and imagining every danger which could have detained them so long. The sovereign pressed the hand of his faithful Filippani, and entered the Count's carriage. Silently they drove on through the old gate of Rome,—Count Spaur having there shown the passport of the Bavarian minister going to Naples on affairs of state.

"Meanwhile the Duc d'Harcourt grew tired of reading the newspapers in the pope's study; and when he thought that his Holiness must be far beyond the walls of Rome, he left the palace, and taking post-horses, hastened with all speed to overtake the fugitive on the road to Civita Vecchia, whither he believed him to be flying. As he left the study in the Quirinal, a prelate entered with a large bundle of ecclesiastical papers, on which, he said, he had to confer with the pope; then his chamberlain went in to read to him his breviary, and the office of the day. The rooms were lighted up, and the supper taken in as usual; and at length it was stated that his Holiness, feeling somewhat unwell, had retired to rest; and his attendants, and the guard of honour, were dismissed for the night. It is true that a certain prelate, who chanced to see the little door by which the fugitive had escaped into the street left open, began to cry out, 'The pope has escaped! the pope has escaped!' But Prince Gabrielli was beside him; and, clapping his hand upon the mouth of the alarmist, silenced him in time, by whispering, 'Be quiet, Monsignore; be quiet, or we shall be cut to pieces!'

"Near La Riccia, the fugitives found Countess Spaur (who had arranged the whole plan of the escape) waiting with a coach and six horses—in which they pursued their journey to Gaeta, reaching the Neapolitan frontier between five and six in the morning. The pope throughout carried with him the sacrament in the pyx which Pius the Seventh carried when he was taken prisoner to France, and which, as if with prescience of what would happen, had been lately sent to him as a memorial by the Bishop of Avignon."—Beste.

It is in the Quirinal Palace that the later conclaves have always met for the election of the popes.

"In the afternoon of the last day of the novendiali, as they are called, after the death of a pope, the cardinals assemble (at S. Sylvestro a Monte Cavallo), and walk in procession, accompanied by their conclavisti, a secretary, a chaplain, and a servant or two, to the great gate of the royal residence, in which one will remain as master and supreme lord. Of course the hill is crowded by persons, lining the avenue kept open for the procession. Cardinals never before seen by them, or not for many years, pass before them; eager eyes scan and measure them, and try to conjecture, from fancied omens in eye, in figure, or in expression, who will be shortly the sovereign of their fair city; and, what is much more, the head of the Catholic Church, from the rising to the setting sun. They all enter equal over the threshold of that gate: they share together the supreme rule, spiritual and temporal: there is still embosomed in them all, the voice yet silent, that will soon sound from one tongue over all the world, and the dormant germ of that authority which will soon again be concentrated in one man alone. To-day they are all equal; perhaps to-morrow one will sit enthroned, and all the rest will kiss his feet; one will be sovereign, and others his subjects; one the shepherd, and the others his flock.

*   *  *  *  *  *   *  *

"From the Quirinal Palace stretches out, the length of a whole street, an immense wing, divided in its two upper floors into a great number of small but complete suites of apartments, occupied permanently, or occasionally, by persons attached to the Court. During conclave these are allotted, literally so, to the cardinals, each of whom lives apart with his own attendants. His food is brought daily from his own house, and is overhauled, and delivered to him in the shape of 'broken victuals,' by the watchful guardians of the turns and lattices, through which alone anything, even conversation, can penetrate into the seclusion of that sacred retreat. For a few hours, the first evening, the doors are left open, and the nobility, the diplomatic body, and, in fact, all presentable persons, may roam from cell to cell, paying a brief compliment to its occupant, perhaps speaking the same good wishes to fifty, which they know can only be accomplished in one. After that, all is closed; a wicket is left accessible for any cardinal to enter, who is not yet arrived; but every aperture is jealously guarded by faithful janitors, judges and prelates of various tribunals, who relieve one another. Every letter even is opened and read, that no communications may be held with the outer world. The very street on which the wing of the conclave looks is barricaded and guarded by a picquet at each end; and as, fortunately, opposite there are no private residences, and all the buildings have access from the back, no inconvenience is thereby created.... In the mean time, within, and unseen from without, fervet opus.

"Twice a day the cardinals meet in the chapel belonging to the palace, included in the enclosure, and there, on tickets so arranged that the voter's name cannot be seen, write the name of him for whom they give their suffrage. These papers are examined in their presence, and if the number of votes given to any one do not constitute the majority, they are burnt in such a manner that the smoke, issuing through a flue, is visible to the crowd usually assembled in the square outside. Some day, instead of this usual signal to disperse, the sound of pick and hammer is heard, a small opening is seen in the wall which had temporarily blocked up the great window over the palace gateway. At last the masons of the conclave have opened a rude door, through which steps out on the balcony the first Cardinal Deacon, and proclaims to the many, or to the few, who may happen to be in waiting, that they again possess a sovereign and a pontiff."—Cardinal Wiseman.

"Sais-tu ce que c'est qu'un conclave? Une réunion de vieillards, moins occupés du ciel que de la terre, et dont quelques-uns se font plus maladifs, plus goutteux, et plus cacochymes qu'ils ne le sont encore, dans l'espérance d'inspirer un vif interêt à leurs partisans. Grand nombre d'éminences ne renonçant jamais à la possibilité d'une élection, le rival le plus près de la tombe excite toujours le moins de répugnance. Un rhumatisme est ici un titre à la confiance; l'hydropisie a ses partisans: car l'ambition et la mort comptent sur les mêmes chances. Le cercueil sert comme de marchepied au trône; et il y a tel pieux candidat qui négocierait avec son concurrent, si la durée du nouveau règne pouvait avoir son terme obligatoire comme celui d'un effet de commerce. Eh! ne sais-tu pas toi-même que le pâtre d'Ancône brûla gaiement ses béquilles dès qu'il eut ceint la tiare; et que Léon X., élu à trente-huit ans, avait eu grand soin de ne guérir d'un mal mortel que le lendemain de son couronnement?"—Lorenzo Ganganelli (Clement XIV.) à Carlo Bertinazzi, Avril 16, 1769.

Under the rule of the Popes the palace was shown from 12 A.M. to 4 P.M. on presentation of a ticket, which could easily be obtained through a banker. It was stripped of all historical memorials and contained very few fine pictures, so was little worth visiting. Since the winter of 1870—71 the palace has been appropriated as the residence of the Sardinian Royal Family.

On the landing of the principal staircase, in a bad light, is a very important fresco by Melozzo da Forli, a rare master of the Paduan school.[235]

"On the vaulted ceiling of a chapel in the Church of the SS. Apostoli at Rome, Melozzo executed a work (1472) which, in those times, can have admitted of comparison with few. When the chapel was rebuilt in the eighteenth century some fragments were saved. That comprehending the Creator between angels was removed to a staircase in the Quirinal palace, while single figures of angels were placed in the sacristy of St. Peter's. These detached portions suffice to show a beauty and fulness of form, and a combination of earthly and spiritual grandeur, comparable in their way to the noblest productions of Titian, although in mode of execution rather recalling Coreggio. Here, as in the cupola frescoes of Coreggio himself, half a century later, we trace that constant effort at true perspective of the figure, hardly in character, perhaps, with high ecclesiastical art; the drapery, also, is of a somewhat formless description; but the grandeur of the principal figure, the grace and freshness of the little adoring cherubs, and the elevated beauty of the angels are expressed with an easy naïveté, to which only the best works of Mantegna and Signorelli can compare."—Kugler.

Passing through a great hall, one hundred and ninety feet long, we are shown a number of rooms fitted up by Pius VII. and Gregory XVI. for the papal summer residence. They contain few objects of interest. In one chamber is a Last Supper by Baroccio;—in the next a fine tapestry representing the marriage of Louis XIV. The following rooms contain some good Gobelin tapestries.

Several apartments have mosaic pavements, brought hither from pagan edifices. The chamber is shown in which Pius VII. died,—the bed has been changed. In the next room—an audience chamber—he was taken prisoner. Here is a curious ancient pietra-dura of the Annunciation,—the ceiling is painted by Overbeck. In one of the following rooms are some pictures, including—

S. Giorgio: Pordenone.

"One picture especially attracted me at the Quirinal; a St. George, the conqueror of the dragon, and deliverer of the maiden. No one could tell me the name of the master, till a modest little man stepped forward, and told me the picture was by Pordenone the Venetian, one of his best works, showing all his merits. This quite explained my liking for it; the picture had struck me, because being best acquainted with the Venetian school, I could best appreciate the merits of one of its masters."—Goethe, Romische Briefe.

Marriage of S. Catherine: Battoni.

St. Peter and St. Paul: Fra Bartolomeo.

"The two standing figures of St. Peter and St. Paul, as large as life, were executed during a short residence in Rome. The first was completed by Raphael after Fra Bartolomeo's departure."—Kugler.

The room which is decorated with a fine modern tapestry of the martyrdom of St. Stephen, has a plaster frieze, being the original cast of the Triumph of Alexander the Great, modelled for Napoleon by Thorwaldsen. One of the last rooms shown is a kind of picture gallery. Among the best works here are:—

Saul and David: Guercino.

Ecce Homo: Domenichino.

St. Jerome: Spagnoletto.

The Flight into Egypt: Baroccio.

Here also is a worthless picture of the Battle of Mentana, presented to Pius IX. by the English Catholic ladies.

The Private Chapel of the Pope, opening from this gallery, contains a magnificent picture of the Annunciation by Guido, and frescoes of the life of the Virgin by Albani. The great hall of the Consistory, a bare room with benches, has a fresco of the Virgin and Child by Carlo Maratta, over an altar.

The Gardens of the Quirinal can be visited with an order from 8 to 12 A.M. They are in the stiff style of box hedges and clipped avenues, which seems to belong especially to Rome, and which we know to have been popular here even in imperial times. Pliny, in his account of his Tusculan villa, describes his gardens decorated with "figures of different animals, cut in box: evergreens clipped into a thousand different shapes; sometimes into letters forming different names; walls and hedges of cut box, and trees twisted into a variety of forms." But the Quirinal gardens are also worth visiting, on account of the many pretty glimpses they afford of St. Peter's and other distant buildings, and the oddity of some of the devices—an organ played by water, &c. The Casino, built by Fuga, has frescoes by Orizonti, Pompeo Battoni, and Pannini.

If we turn to the left on issuing from the palace, we reach—on the left—the entrance to the courtyard of the vast Palazzo Rospigliosi, built by Flaminio Ponzio, in 1603, for Cardinal Scipio Borghese, on a portion of the site of the Baths of Constantine. It was inhabited by Cardinal Bentivoglio, and sold by him to Cardinal Mazarin, who enlarged it from designs of Carlo Maderno. From his time to 1704 it was inhabited by French ambassadors, and it then passed to the Rospigliosi family. The present Prince Rospigliosi inhabits the second floor, his brother, Prince Pallavicini, the first.

The palace itself (well known from its hospitalities) is not shown, but the Casino is open on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It is situated at the end of a very small but pretty garden planted with magnolias, and consists of three chambers. On the roof of the central room is the famous Aurora of Guido.

"Guido's Aurora is the very type of haste and impetus; for surely no man ever imagined such hurry and tumult, such sounding and clashing. Painters maintain that it is lighted from two sides,—they have my full permission to light theirs from three if it will improve them, but the difference lies elsewhere."—Mendelssohn's Letters, p. 91.

"This is the noblest work of Guido. It is embodied poetry. The Hours, that hand in hand encircle the car of Phœbus, advance with rapid pace. The paler, milder forms of those gentle sisters who rule over declining day, and the glowing glance of those who bask in the meridian blaze, resplendent in the hues of heaven,—are of no mortal grace and beauty; but they are eclipsed by Aurora herself, who sails on the golden clouds before them, shedding 'showers of shadowing roses' on the rejoicing earth; her celestial presence diffusing gladness, and light, and beauty around. Above the heads of the heavenly coursers, hovers the morning star, in the form of a youthful cherub, bearing his flaming torch. Nothing is more admirable in this beautiful composition than the motion given to the whole. The smooth and rapid step of the circling Hours as they tread on the fleecy clouds; the fiery steeds; the whirling wheels of the car; the torch of Lucifer, blown back by the velocity of his advance; and the form of Aurora, borne through the ambient air, till you almost fear she should float from your sight."—Eaton's Rome.

"The work of Guido is more poetic than that of Guercino, and luminous, and soft, and harmonious. Cupid, Aurora, Phœbus, form a climax of beauty, and the Hours seem as light as the clouds on which they dance."—Forsyth.

Lanzi points out that Guido always took the Venus de Medici and the Niobe as his favourite models, and that there is scarcely one of his large pictures in which the Niobe or one of her sons is not introduced, yet with such dexterity, that the theft is scarcely perceptible.

The frescoes of the frieze are by Tempesta; the landscapes by Paul Brill. In the hall are busts, statues, and a bronze horse found in the ruins of the Baths.

There is a small collection of pictures—the only work of real importance being the beautiful Daniele di Volterra of our Saviour bearing his cross, in the room on the left. In the same room are two large pictures, David triumphing with the head of Goliath, Domenichino; and Perseus rescuing Andromeda, Guido. In the room on the right are, Adam gathering fig-leaves for Eve, in a Paradise which is crowded with animals like a menagerie, Domenichino; and Samson pulling down the pillars upon the Philistines, Ludovico Caracci.

A second small garden belonging to this palace is well worth seeing in May from the wealth of camellias, azaleas, and roses, with which it is filled.

Opposite the Rospigliosi Palace, by ringing at a gate in the wall, we gain admission to the Colonna Gardens (connected with the palace in the Piazza SS. Apostoli, by a series of bridges across the intervening street). Here, on a lofty terrace which has a fine view towards the Capitol, and overshadowed by grand cypresses, are the colossal remains of the Temple of the Sun (huge fragments of cornice) built by Aurelian (A.D. 270—75). At the other end of the terrace, looking down through two barns into a kind of pit, we can see some remains of the Baths of Constantine—built A.D. 326—and of the great staircase which led up to them from the valley below. The portico of these baths remained erect till the time of Clement XII. (1730—40), and was adorned with four marble statues, of which two—those of the two Constantines—may now be seen on the terrace of the Capitol.

Beneath the magnificent cypress-trees on the slope of the hill are several fine sarcophagi. Only the stem is preserved of the grand historical pine-tree, which was planted on the day on which Cola di Rienzi died, and which was one of the great ornaments of the city till 1848, when it was broken in a storm.

Just beyond the end of the garden, are the great Convent and Church of S. Silvestro a Monte Cavallo—belonging to the Missionaries of St. Vincent de Paul—in which the Cardinals meet before going in procession to the Conclave. It contains a few rather good pictures. The cupola of the second chapel has frescoes by Domenichino, of David dancing before the Ark,—the Queen of Sheba and Solomon,—Judith with the head of Holofernes,—and Esther fainting before Ahasueras. These are considered by Lanzi as some of the finest frescoes of the master. In the left transept is a chapel containing a picture of the Assumption, painted on slate, considered the masterpiece of Scipione Gaetani. The last chapel but one on the left has a ceiling by Cav. d'Arpino, and frescoes on the walls by Polidoro da Caravaggio. The picture over the altar, representing St. Dominic and St. Catherine of Siena, is by Mariotto Albertinelli. Cardinal Bentivoglio—who wrote the history of the wars in Flanders, and lived in the Rospigliosi Palace—is buried here.

We now reach the height of Maganaopoli, from which the isthmus which joined the Quirinal to the Capitoline was cut away by Trajan. Here is a cross-ways. On the right is a descent to the Forum of Trajan, at the side of which is the villa of Cardinal Antonelli, and beyond it, the handsome modern palace of Count Trapani, cousin to the King of Naples.

Opposite, is the Church of Sta. Caterina di Siena, possessing some frescoes attributed, on doubtful grounds, to the rare master Timoteo della Vite. Adjoining, is a large convent, enclosed within the precincts of which is the tall brick mediæval tower, sometimes called the Tower of Nero, but generally known as the Torre delle Milizie, i.e. the Roman Militia. It was erected by the sons of Peter Alexius, a baron attached to the party of the Senator Pandolfo de Suburra. The lower part is said to have been built in 1210, the upper in 1294 and 1330.

"People pass through two regular courses of study at Rome,—the first in learning, and the second in unlearning.

"'This is the tower of Nero, from which he saw the city in flames,—and this is the temple of Concord,—and this is the temple of Castor and Pollux,—and this is the temple of Vesta,—and these are the baths of Paulus-Æmilius,'—and so on, says your lacquey.

"'This is not the tower of Nero,—nor that the temple of Castor and Pollux,—nor the other the temple of Concord,—nor are any of these things what they are called,' says your antiquary."—Eaton's Rome.

The Convent of Sta. Caterina was built by the celebrated Vittoria Colonna, who requested the advice of Michael Angelo on the subject, and was told that she had better make the ancient "Torre" into a belfry. A very curious account of the interview in which this subject was discussed, and which took place in the Church of S. Silvestro a Monte Cavallo, is left us in the memoirs of Francesco d'Olanda, a Portuguese painter, who was himself present at the conversation.

Near this point are two other fine mediæval towers. One is to the right of the descent to the Forum of Trajan, being that of the Colonnas, now called Tor di Babele, ornamented with three beautiful fragments of sculptured frieze, one of them bearing the device of the Colonna, a crowned column rising from a wreath. The other tower, immediately facing us, is called Torre del Grillo, from the ancient family of that name.

Opposite Sta. Caterina is the handsome Church of SS. Domenico e Sisto, approached by a good double twisted staircase. Over the second altar on the left is a picture of the marriage of St. Catherine by Allegrani, and, on the anniversary of her (visionary) marriage (July 19), the dried hand of the saint is exhibited here to the unspeakable comfort of the faithful.

Turning by this church into the Via Maganaopoli (formerly Baganaopoli, a corruption of Balnea Pauli—Baths of Emilius Paulus), we pass on the left the Palazzo Aldobrandini, with a bright pleasant-looking court and handsome fountain. The present Prince Aldobrandini is brother of Prince Borghese. Of this family was S. Pietro Aldobrandini, generally known as S. Pietro Igneo, who was canonized because, in 1067, he walked unhurt, crucifix in hand, through a burning fiery furnace ten feet long before the church door of Settimo, near Florence, to prove an accusation of simony which he had brought against Pietro di Pavia, bishop of that city.

In the Via di Mazzarini, in the hollow between the Quirinal and Viminal, is the Convent of Sta. Agata in Suburra, through the courtyard of which we enter the Church of Sta. Agata dei Goti. A tradition declares that this (like S. Sabba on the Aventine) is on the site of a house of Sta. Silvia, mother of St. Gregory the Great, who consecrated the church after it had been plundered by the Goths, and dedicated it to Sta. Agata. It was rebuilt by Ricimer, the king-maker, in A.D. 472. Twelve ancient granite columns and a handsome opus-alexandrinum pavement are its only signs of antiquity. The church now belongs to the Irish Seminary. In the left aisle is the monument of Daniel O'Connell, with bas-reliefs by Benzoni, inscribed:—

"This monument contains the heart of O'Connell, who dying at Genoa on his way to the Eternal City, bequeathed his soul to God, his body to Ireland, and his heart to Rome. He is represented at the bar of the British House of Commons in MDCCCXXIII., when he refused to take the anti-catholic declaration, in these remarkable words—'I at once reject this declaration; part of it I believe to be untrue, and the rest I know to be false.' He was born vi. Aug. MDCCLXXVI., and died xv. May, MDCCCXLVIII. Erected by Charles Bianconi, the faithful friend of the immortal liberator, and of Ireland the land of his adoption."

At the end of the left aisle is a chapel, which Cardinal Antonelli (who has his palace near this) decorated, 1863, with frescoes and arabesques as a burial-place for his family. In the opposite chapel is a gilt figure of Sta. Agata carrying her breasts—showing the manner in which she suffered.

"Agatha was a maiden of Catania, in Sicily, whither Decius the emperor sent Quintianus as governor. He, inflamed by the beauty of Agatha, tempted her with rich gifts and promises, but she repulsed him with disdain. Then Quintianus ordered her to be bound and beaten with rods, and sent two of his slaves to tear her bosom with iron shears, and as her blood flowed forth, she said to him, 'O thou cruel tyrant! art thou not ashamed to treat me thus—hast thou not thyself been fed at thy mother's breasts?' Thus only did she murmur. And in the night a venerable man came to her, bearing a vase of ointment, and before him walked a youth bearing a torch. It was the holy apostle Peter, and the youth was an angel; but Agatha knew it not; though such a glorious light filled the prison, that the guards fled in terror.... Then St. Peter made himself known and ministered to her, restoring with heavenly balm her wounded breasts.

"Quintianus, infuriated, demanded who had healed her. She replied, 'He whom I confess and adore with heart and lips, he hath sent his apostle who hath healed me.' Then Quintianus caused her to be thrown bound upon a great fire, but instantly an earthquake arose, and the people in terror cried, 'This visitation is sent because of the sufferings of the maiden Agatha.' So he caused her to be taken from the fire, and carried back to prison, where she prayed aloud that having now proved her faith, she might be freed from pain and see the glory of God;—and her prayer was answered and her spirit instantly departed into eternal glory, Feb. 5, A.D. 251."—From the "Legende delle SS. Vergini."

Agatha (patroness of Catania) is one of the saints most reverenced by the Roman people. On the 5th of February her vespers are sung here, which contain the antiphons:—

"Who art thou that art come to heal my wounds?—I am an apostle of Christ, doubt not concerning me, my daughter.

"Medicine for the body have I never used; but I have the Lord Jesus Christ, who with his word alone restoreth all things.

"I render thanks to thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, for that thou hast been mindful of me, and hast sent thine apostle to heal my wounds.

"I bless thee, O Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, because through thine apostle thou hast restored my breasts to me.

"Him who hath vouchsafed to heal me of every wound, and to restore to me my breasts, him do I invoke, even the living God.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

"Blessed Agatha, standing in her prison, stretched forth her hands and prayed unto the Lord, saying, 'O Lord Jesus Christ, my good master, I thank thee because thou hast given me strength to overcome the tortures of the executioners; and now, Lord, speak the word, that I may depart hence to thy glory which fadeth not away."

The tomb of John Lascaris (a refugee from Constantinople when taken by the Turks) has—in Greek—the inscription:—

"Lascaris lies here in a foreign grave; but, stranger, that does not disturb him, rather does he rejoice; yet he is not without sorrow, as a Grecian, that his fatherland will not bestow upon him the freedom of a grave."

Passing the great Convent of S. Bernardino Senensis, we reach the Via dei Serpenti, interesting as occupying the supposed site of the Vallis Quirinalis, where Julius Proculus, returning from Alba Longa, encountered the ghost of Romulus:

"Sed Proculus Longâ veniebat Julius Albâ;

Lunaque fulgebat; nec facis usus erat:

Cum subito motu nubes crepuere sinistræ:

Retulit ille gradus, horrueruntque comæ.

Pulcher, et humano major, trabeâque decorus,

Romulus in mediâ visus adesse viâ."

Ovid, Fast. ii. 498.

Turning to the right down the Via dei Serpenti, we reach the Piazza Sta. Maria in Monti, containing a fountain, and a church dedicated to SS. Sergius and Bacchus, two martyrs who suffered under Maximian at Rasapha in Syria.

One side of this piazza is occupied by the Church of Sta. Maria in Monti, in which is deposited a figure of the beggar Labre (canonized by Pius IX. in 1860), dressed in the gown of a mendicant-pilgrim, which he wore when living. Over the altar is a picture of him in the Coliseum, distributing to his fellow-beggars the alms which he had obtained. His fête is observed here on April 16. (At No. 3 Via dei Serpenti, one may visit the chamber in which Labre died—and in the Via dei Crociferi, near the fountain of Trevi, a chapel containing many of his relics,—the bed on which he died, the crucifix which he wore in his bosom, &c.)

"Benoît Joseph Labre naquit en 1748 dans le diocèse de Boulogne (France) de parents chrétiens et jouissant d'une modeste aisance. D'une piété vive et tendre, il voulut d'abord se faire religieux; mais sa santé ne put résister, ni aux règles des Chartreux, ni à celles des Trappistes, chez lesquels il entra successivement. Il fut alors sollicité intérieurement, est il dit dans la notice sur sa vie, de mener une vie de pénitence et de charité au milieu du siècle. Pendant sept années, il parcourut en pèlerin-mendiant, les sanctuaires de la Vierge les plus vénérés de toute l'Europe; on a calculé qu'il fit, à pied, plus de cinq mille lieues, pendant ces sept années.

"En 1777, il revint en Italie, pour ne plus en sortir. Il habitait Rome, faisant seulement une fois chaque année, le pèlerinage de Lorète. Il passait une grande partie de ses journées dans les églises, mendiait, et faisait des œuvres de charité. Il couchait quelquefois sous le portique des églises, et le plus souvent au Colysée derrière la petite chapelle de la cinquième station du chemin de la croix. L'église qu'il fréquentait le plus, était celle de Ste. Marie des Monts; le 16 Avril, 1783, après y avoir prié fort longtemps, en sortant, il tomba, comme évanoui, sur les marches du péristyle de l'église. On le transporta dans une maison voisine, où il mourut le soir."—Une Année à Rome.

Almost opposite this church, a narrow alley, which appears to be a cul-de-sac ending in a picture of the Crucifixion, is in reality the approach to the carefully concealed Convent of the Farnesiani Nuns, generally known as the Sepolte Vive. The only means of communicating with them is by rapping on a barrel which projects from a wall on a platform above the roofs of the houses,—when a muffled voice is heard from the interior,—and if your references are satisfactory, the barrel turns round and eventually discloses a key by which the initiated can admit themselves to a small chamber in the interior of the convent. Over its door is an inscription, bidding those who enter that chamber to leave all worldly thoughts behind them. Round the walls are inscribed,—"Qui non diligit, manet in morti."—"Militia est vita hominis super terram."—"Alter alterius onera portate"; and, on the other side, opposite the door,

"Vi esorto a rimirar

La vita del mondo

Nella guisa che la mira

Un moribondo."

In one of the walls is an opening with a double grille, beyond which is a metal plate, pierced with holes like the rose of a watering-pot. It is beyond this grille and behind this plate, that the abbess of the Sepolte Vive receives her visitors, but she is even then veiled from head to foot in heavy folds of thick bure. Gregory XVI., who of course could penetrate within the convent and who wished to try her, said, "Sorella mia, levate il velo." "No, mio padre," she replied, "E vietato dalla nostra regola."

The nuns of the Sepolte Vive are never seen again after they once assume the black veil, though they are allowed double the ordinary noviciate. They never hear anything of the outer world, even of the deaths of their nearest relations. Daily, they are said to dig their own graves and lie down in them, and their remaining hours are occupied in perpetual and monotonous adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

Returning as far as the Via Pane e Perna (a continuation of the Via Maganaopoli) we ascend the slope of the Viminal Hill, now with difficulty to be distinguished from the Quirinal. It derives its name from vimina, osiers, and was once probably covered with woods, since a temple of Sylvanus or Pan was one of several which adorned its principal street—the Vicus Longus—the site of which is now marked by the countrified lane called Via S. Vitale. This end of the hill is crowned by the Church of S. Lorenzo Pane e Perna, built on the site of the martyrdom of the deacon St. Laurence, who suffered under Claudius II., in A.D. 264, for refusing to give up the goods of the Church. Over the altar is a huge fresco, representing the saint extended upon a red-hot gridiron, and below—entered from the exterior of the church—a crypt is shown as the scene of his cruel sufferings.[236]

"Blessed Laurentius, as he lay stretched and burning on the gridiron, said to the impious tyrant, 'The meat is done, make haste hither and eat. As for the treasures of the Church which you seek, the hands of the poor have carried them to a heavenly treasury.'"—Antiphon of St. Laurence.

The funeral of St. Bridget of Sweden took place in this church, July 1373, but after resting here for a year, her body was removed by her son to the monastery of Wastein in Sweden.

Under the second altar on the right are shown the relics of St. Crispin and St. Crispinian, "two holy brothers, who departed from Rome with St. Denis to preach the Gospel in France, where, after the example of St. Paul, they laboured with their hands, being by trade shoemakers. And these good saints made shoes for the poor without fee or reward (for which the angels supplied them with leather), until, denounced as Christians, they suffered martyrdom at Soissons, being, after many tortures, beheaded by the sword (A.D. 300)."[237] The festival of St. Crispin and St. Crispinian is held on October 25, the anniversary of the battle of Agincourt.

"And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,

From this day to the ending of the world,

But we in it shall be remembered."

Shakespeare, Henry V.

Throughout the middle ages the statues of Posidippus and Menander, now in the gallery of statues at the Vatican, were kissed and worshipped in this church under the impression that they represented saints (see Ch. XV.). They were found on this site, which was once occupied by the baths of Olympias, daughter-in-law of Constantine.

The strange name of the church, Pane e Perna, is supposed to have had its origin in a dole of bread and ham once given at the door of the adjacent convent. In the garden belonging to the convent is a mediæval house of c. 1200. The campanile is of 1450.

The small neighbouring Church of S. Lorenzo in Fonte covers the site of the prison of St. Lawrence, and a fountain is shown there as that in which he baptized Vicus Patricius and his daughter Lucilla, whom he miraculously raised from the dead.

Descending the hill below the church—in the valley between the Esquiline and Viminal—we reach at the corner of the street a spot of preëminent historical interest, as that where Servius Tullius was killed, and where Tullia (B.C. 535) drove in her chariot over the dead body of her father. The Vicus Urbius by which the old king had reached the spot is now represented by the Via Urbana; the Vicus Cyprius, by which he was about to ascend to the palace on the hill Cispius, by the Via di Sta. Maria Maggiore.

"Servius-Tullius, après avoir pris le chemin raccourci qui partait du pied de la Velia et allait du côté des Carines, atteignit le Vicus-Cyprius (Via Urbana).

"Parvenu à l'extrémité du Vicus-Cyprius, le roi fut atteint et assassiné par les gens de Tarquin auprès d'un temple de Diane.

"C'est arrivés en cet endroit, au moment de tourner à droite et de gagner, en remontant le Vicus-Virbius, le Cispius, où habitait son père, que les chevaux s'arrêtèrent; que Tullie, poussée par l'impatience fièvreuse de l'ambition, et n'ayant plus que quelques pas à faire pour arriver au terme, avertie par le cocher que le cadavre de son père était là gisant, s'écria: 'Eh bien, pousse le char en avant.'

"Le meurtre s'est accompli au pied du Viminal, à l'extrémité du Vicus-Cyprius, là où fut depuis le Vicus-Sceleratus, la rue Funeste.

"Le lieu où la tradition plaçait cette tragique aventure ne peut être sur l'Esquilin: mais nécessairement au pied de cette colline et du Viminal, puisque, parvenu à l'extrémité du Vicus-Cyprius, le cocher allait tourner à droite et remonter pour gravir l'Esquilin. Il ne faut donc pas chercher, comme Nibby, la rue Scélérate sur une des pentes, ou, comme Canina et M. Dyer, sur le sommet de l'Esquilin, d'où l'on ne pouvait monter sur l'Esquilin.

"Tullie n'allait pas sur l'Oppius (San-Pietro in Vincoli), dans la demeure de son mari, mais sur le Cispius, dans la demeure de son père. C'était de la demeure royale qu'elle allait prendre possession pour le nouveau roi.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

"Je n'oublierai jamais le soir où, après avoir longtemps cherché le lieu qui vit la mort de Servius et le crime de Tullie, tout-à-coup je découvris clairement que j'y étais arrivé, et m'arrêtant plein d'horreur, comme le cocher de la parricide, plongeant dans l'ombre un regard qui, malgré moi, y cherchait le cadavre du vieux roi, je me dis: 'C'était là!'"

Ampère, Hist. Rom. ii. 153.

Turning to the left, at the foot of the Esquiline, we find the interesting Church of Sta. Pudenziana, supposed to be the most ancient of all the Roman churches ("omnium ecclesiaram urbis vetustissima"). Cardinal Wiseman, who took his title from this church, considers it was the principal place of worship in Rome after apostolic times, being founded on the site of the house where St. Paul lodged, A.D. 41 to 50, with the senator Pudens, whose family were his first converts, and who is said to have himself suffered martyrdom under Nero. On this ancient place of worship an oratory was engrafted by Pius I. (c. A.D. 145), in memory of the younger daughter of Pudens, Pudenziana, perhaps at the request of her sister Prassede, who is believed to have survived till that time. In very early times two small churches existed here, known as "Titulus Pudentis" and "Titulus Pastoris," the latter in memory of a brother of Pius I.

The church, which has been successively altered by Adrian I. in the eighth century, by Gregory VII., and by Innocent II., was finally modernised by Cardinal Caetani in 1597. Little remains of ancient external work except the graceful brick campanile (c. 1130) with triple arcades of open arches on every side separated by bands of terra-cotta moulding,—and the door adorned with low reliefs of the Lamb bearing a cross, and of Sta. Prassede and Sta. Pudenziana with the vases in which they collected the blood of the martyrs, and two other figures, probably St. Pudens and St. Pastor.

The chapel on the left of the tribune, which is regarded as the "Titulus Pudentis," has an old mosaic pavement, said to have belonged to the house of Pudens. Here is a bas-relief by Giacomo della Porta, representing our Saviour delivering the keys to St. Peter; and here is preserved part of the altar at which St. Peter is said to have celebrated mass (the rest is at the Lateran), and which was used by all the early popes till the time of Sylvester. Among early Christian inscriptions let into the walls, is one to a Cornelia, of the family of the Pudenziani, with a rude portrait.

Opening from the left aisle is the chapel of the Caetani family, with tombs of the seventeenth century. Over the altar is a bas-relief of the Adoration of the Magi, by Paolo Olivieri. On each side are fine columns of Lunachella marble. Over the entrance from the nave are ancient mosaics,—of the Evangelists and of Sta. Pudenziana collecting the blood of the martyrs. Beneath, is a gloomy and neglected vault, in which all the sarcophagi and coffins of the dead Caetani are shown by torchlight.

In the tribune are magnificent mosaics, ascribed by some to the eighth, by others to the fourth century, and considered by De Rossi,[238] as the best of all ancient Christian mosaics.

"In conception and treatment this work is indeed classic: seated on a rich throne in the centre, is the Saviour with one arm extended, and in the other hand holding a book open at the words, Conservator Ecclesiæ Pudentianæ; laterally stand SS. Praxedis and Pudentiana with leafy crowns in their hands; and at a lower level, but more in front, SS. Peter and Paul with eight other male figures, all in the amply-flowing costume of ancient Romans; while in the background are seen, beyond a portico with arcades, various stately buildings, one a rotunda, another a parallelogram with a gable-headed front, recognizable as a baptistery and basilica, here, we may believe, in authentic copy from the earliest types of the period of the first Christian emperors. Above the group, and hovering in the air, a large cross, studded with gems, surmounts the head of our Saviour, between the four symbols of the Evangelists, of which one has been entirely, and another in the greater part, sacrificed to some wretched accessories in woodwork actually allowed to conceal portions of this most interesting mosaic! As to expression, a severe solemnity is that prevailing, especially in the principal head, which alone is crowned with the nimbus—one among other proofs, if but negative, of its high antiquity."—Heman's Ancient Christian Art.

Besides Sta. Pudenziana and St. Pudens,—St. Novatus and St. Siricius are said to be buried here. Those who visit this sanctuary every day obtain an indulgence of 3000 years, with remission of a third part of their sins! Excavations made by Mr. J. H. Parker, in 1865, have laid bare some interesting constructions beneath the church,—supposed to be those of the house of Pudens—a part of the public baths of Novatus, the son of Pudens, which were in use for some centuries after his time, and a chamber in which is supposed to have been the oratory dedicated by Pius I. in A.D. 145.

"Eubulus greeteth thee, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brethren."—2 Timothy iv. 21.

The following account of the family of Pudens is received as the legacy of Pastor to the Christian Church.

"Pudens went to his Saviour, leaving his daughters strengthened with chastity, and learned in all the divine law. These sold their goods, and distributed the produce to the poor, and persevered strictly in the love of Christ, guarding intact the flower of their virginity, and only seeking for glory in vigils, fastings, and prayer. They desired to have a baptistery in their house, to which the blessed Pius not only consented, but with his own hand drew the plan of the fountain. Then calling in their slaves, both from town and country, the two virgins gave liberty to those who were Christians, and urged belief in the faith upon those who had not yet received it. By the advice of the blessed Pius, the affranchisement was declared, with all the ancient usages, in the oratory founded by Pudens; then, at the festival of Easter, ninety-six neophytes were baptized; so that thenceforth assemblies were constantly held in the said oratory, which night and day resounded with hymns of praise. Many pagans gladly came thither to find the faith and receive baptism.

"Meanwhile the Emperor Antonine, being informed of what was taking place, issued an edict commanding all Christians to dwell apart in their own houses, without mixing with the rest of the people, and that they should neither go to the public shops, nor to the baths. Praxedis and Pudentiana then assembled those whom they had led to the faith, and housed them. They nourished them for many days, watching and praying. The blessed bishop Pius himself frequently visited us with joy, and offered the sacrifice for us to the Saviour.

"Then Pudentiana went to God. Her sister and I wrapped her in perfumes and kept her concealed in the oratory. Then, at the end of twenty-eight days, we carried her to the cemetery of Priscilla, and laid her near her father Pudens.

"Eleven months after, Novatus died in his turn. He bequeathed his goods to Praxedis, and she then begged of St. Pius to erect a titular (a church) in the baths of Novatus, which were no longer used, and where there was a large and spacious hall. The bishop made the dedication in the name of the blessed virgin Praxedis. In the same place he consecrated a baptistery.

"But, at the end of two years, a great persecution was declared against the Christians, and many of them received the crown of martyrdom. Praxedis concealed a great number of them in her oratory, and nourished them at once with the food of this world and with the word of God. But the Emperor Antonine, having learnt that these meetings took place in the oratory of Priscilla, caused it to be searched, and many Christians were taken, especially the priest Simetrius and twenty-two others. And the blessed Praxedis collected their bodies by night, and buried them in the cemetery of Priscilla, on the seventh day of the calends of June. Then the virgin of the Saviour, worn out with sorrow, only asked for death. Her tears and her prayers reached to heaven, and fifty-four days after her brethren had suffered, she passed to God. And I, Pastor, the priest, have buried her body near that of her father Pudens."—From the Narration of Pastor.

Returning by the main line of streets to the Quattro Fontane, we skirt on the right the wall of the Villa Negroni (see Ch. XI). Beyond this, on the left, is the Church of S. Paolo Primo Eremita. The strange-looking palm-tree over the door, with a raven perched upon it and two lions below, commemorates the story of the saint, who, retiring to the desert at the age of 22, lived there till he was 112, eating nothing but the dates of his tree for twenty-two years, after which bread was daily brought to him by a raven. In his last hours St. Anthony came to visit him and was present at his burial, when two lions his companions came to dig his grave. The sustaining palm-tree and the three animals who loved S. Paolo are again represented over the altar. Further on the left, we pass the Via S. Vitale, occupying the site of the Vicus Longus, considered by Dyer to have been the longest street in the ancient city. Here stood the temples of Sylvanus, and of Fever, with that of Pudicitia Plebeia, founded c. B.C. 297, by Virginia the patrician, wife of Volumnius, when excluded from the patrician temple of Pudicitia in the Forum Boarium, on account of her plebeian marriage. "At its altar none but plebeian matrons of unimpeachable chastity, and who had been married to only one husband, were allowed to sacrifice."[239]

The Church of S. Vitale on the Viminal, which now stands here, was founded by Innocent I. in A.D. 416. The interior is covered with frescoes of martyrdoms. It is seldom open except early on Sunday mornings. S. Vitale, father of S. Gervasius and S. Protasius, was the martyr and patron saint of Ravenna who was buried alive under Nero.

Beyond this, on the left of the Via delle Quattro Fontane, is the Church of S. Dionisio, belonging to the Basilian nuns, called Apostoline di S. Basilio. It contains an Ecce Homo of Luca Giordano, and the gaudy shrine of the virgin martyr Sta. Coraola.

END OF VOL. I.

WALKS IN ROME

TWO VOLS. —II.

WALKS IN ROME

BY AUGUSTUS J. C. HARE

AUTHOR OF "MEMORIALS OF A QUIET LIFE," "WANDERINGS IN SPAIN," ETC.

TWO VOLUMES.—II.

FIFTH EDITION

LONDON

DALDY, ISBISTER & CO.

56, LUDGATE HILL

1875

[All rights reserved]

JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS.

CONTENTS VOLUME II.

CHAPTER XI.

PAGE

THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF THE BATHS OF DIOCLETIAN

7

CHAPTER XII.

THE ESQUILINE

46

CHAPTER XIII.

THE BASILICAS OF THE LATERAN, SANTA CROCE, AND S. LORENZO

94

CHAPTER XIV.

IN THE CAMPUS MARTIUS

148

CHAPTER XV.

THE BORGO AND ST. PETER'S

223

CHAPTER XVI.

THE VATICAN

282

CHAPTER XVII.

THE ISLAND AND THE TRASTEVERE

360

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE TRE FONTANE AND S. PAOLO

392

CHAPTER XIX.

THE VILLAS BORGHESE MADAMA, AND MELLINI

410

CHAPTER XX.

THE JANICULAN

432

CHAPTER XI.

THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF THE BATHS OF DIOCLETIAN.

The Cappuccini—S. Isidore—S. Niccolo in Tolentino—Via S. Basilio—Convent of the Pregatrici—Villa Massimo Rignano—Gardens of Sallust—Villa Ludovisi—Porta Salara—(Villa Albani—Catacombs of Sta. Felicitas and Sta. Priscilla—Ponte Salara)—Porta Pia—(Villa Torlonia—Sant' Agnese—Sta. Costanza—Ponte Nomentana—Mons Sacer—S. Alessandro)—Villa Torlonia within the walls—Via Macao—Pretorian Camp—Railway Station—Villa Negroni—Agger of Servius Tullius—Sta. Maria degli Angeli—Fountain of the Termini—Sta. Maria della Vittoria—Sta. Susanna—S. Bernardo—S. Caio.

OPENING from the left of the Piazza Barberini, is the small Piazza of the Cappuccini, named from a convent suppressed since the Sardinian occupation, but which was one of the largest and most populous in Rome.

The conventual church, dedicated to Sta. Maria della Concezione, contains several fine pictures. In the first chapel, on the right, is the magnificent Guido of the Archangel Michael trampling upon the Devil,—said to be a portrait of Pope Innocent X., against whom the painter had a peculiar spite.

"Here the angel, standing, yet scarcely touching the ground, poised on his outspread wings, sets his left foot on the head of his adversary; in one hand he brandishes a sword, in the other he holds the end of a chain, with which he is about to bind down the demon in the bottomless pit. The attitude has been criticised, and justly; the grace is somewhat mannered, verging on the theatrical; but Forsyth is too severe when he talks of 'the air of a dancing master': one thing, however, is certain, we do not think about the attitude when we look at Raphael's St. Michael (in the Louvre); in Guido's it is the first thing that strikes us; but when we look farther, the head redeems all; it is singularly beautiful, and in the blending of the masculine and feminine graces, in the serene purity of the brow, and the flow of the golden hair, there is something divine; a slight, very slight expression of scorn is in the air of the head. The fiend is the worst part of the picture; it is not a fiend, but a degraded prosaic human ruffian; we laugh with incredulous contempt at the idea of an angel called down from heaven to overcome such a wretch. In Raphael the fiend is human, but the head has the god-like ugliness and malignity of a satyr; Guido's fiend is only stupid and base. It appears to me that there is just the same difference—the same kind of difference—between the angel of Raphael and the angel of Guido, as between the description in Tasso and the description in Milton; let any one compare them. In Tasso we are struck by the picturesque elegance of the description as a piece of art, the melody of the verse, the admirable choice of the expressions, as in Guido by the finished but somewhat artificial and studied grace. In Raphael and Milton we see only the vision of a 'shape divine.'"—Jameson's Sacred Art, p. 107.

In the same chapel is a picture by Gherardo della Notte of Christ in the purple robe. The third chapel contains a fresco by Domenichino of the Death of St Francis, and a picture of the Ecstasy of St. Francis, which was a gift from the same painter to this church.

The first chapel on the left contains The Visit of Ananias to Saul, by Pietro da Cortona.

"Whoever would know to what length this painter carried his style in his altar-piece should examine the Conversion of St. Paul in the Cappuccini at Rome, which though placed opposite to the St. Michael of Guido, cannot fail to excite the admiration of such judges as are willing to admit various styles of beauty in art."—Lanzi.

On the left of the high-altar is the tomb of Prince Alexander Sobieski, son of John III., king of Poland, who died at Rome in 1714.

The church was founded in 1624, by Cardinal Barberini, the old monk-brother of Urban VIII., who, while his nephews were employed in building magnificent palaces, refused to take advantage of the family elevation otherwise than to endow this church and convent. He is buried in front of the altar, with the remarkable epitaph—very different to the pompous, self-glorifying inscriptions of his brother—

"Hic jacet pulvis, cinis, et nihil."

This Cardinal Barberini possesses some historical interest from the patronage he extended to Milton during his visit to Rome in 1638.

"During his sojourn in Rome Milton enjoyed the conversation of several learned and ingenious men, and particularly of Lucas Holsteinius, keeper of the Vatican library, who received him with the greatest humanity, and showed him all the Greek authors, whether in print or MS.—which had passed through his correction; and also presented him to Cardinal Barberini, who, at an entertainment of music, performed at his own expense, waited for him at the door, and taking him by the hand, brought him into the assembly. The next morning he waited upon the Cardinal to return him thanks for these civilities, and by the means of Holsteinius was again introduced to his Eminence, and spent some time in conversation with him."—Newton's Life of Milton.[240]

Over the entrance is a cartoon (with some differences) for the Navicella of Giotto.

From this church is entered the famous cemetery of the Cappuccini (not subterranean), consisting of four chambers, ornamented with human bones in patterns, and with mummified bodies. The earth was brought from Jerusalem. As the cemetery was too small for the convent, when any monk died, the one who had been buried longest was ejected to make room for him. The loss of a grave was supposed to be amply compensated by the short rest in the holy earth which the body had already enjoyed. It is pleasant to read on the spot the pretty sketch in the "Improvisatore."

"I was playing near the church of the Capuchins, with some other children who were all younger than myself. There was fastened on the church door a little cross of metal; it was fastened about the middle of the door, and I could just reach it with my hand. Always when our mothers had passed by with us they had lifted us up that we might kiss the holy sign. One day, when we children were playing, one of the youngest of them inquired, 'why the child Jesus did not come down and play with us?' I assumed an air of wisdom, and replied that he was really bound upon the cross. We went to the church door, and although we found no one, we wished, as our mothers had taught us, to kiss him, but we could not reach up to it; one therefore lifted up the other, but just as the lips were pointed for the kiss, that one who lifted the other lost his strength, and the kissing one fell down just when his lips were about to touch the invisible child Jesus. At that moment my mother came by, and when she saw our child's play, she folded her hands, and said, 'You are actually some of God's angels, and thou art mine own angel,' added she, and kissed me.

"The Capuchin monk, Fra Martino, was my mother's confessor. He made very much of me, and gave me a picture of the Virgin, weeping great tears, which fell, like rain-drops, down into the burning flames of hell, where the damned caught this draught of refreshment. He took me over with him into the convent, where the open colonnade, which enclosed in a square the little potato-garden, with the two cypress and orange-trees, made a very deep impression upon me. Side by side, in the open passages, hung old portraits of deceased monks, and on the door of each cell were pasted pictures from the history of the martyrs, which I contemplated with the same holy emotions as afterwards the masterpieces of Raphael and Andrea del Sarto.

"'Thou art really a bright youth,' said he; 'thou shall now see the dead.' Upon this, he opened a little door of a gallery which lay a few steps below the colonnade. We descended, and now I saw round about me skulls upon skulls, so placed one upon another, that they formed walls, and therewith several chapels. In these were regular niches, in which were seated perfect skeletons of the most distinguished of the monks, enveloped in their brown cowls, their cords round their waists, and with a breviary or withered bunch of flowers in their hands. Altars, chandeliers, bas-reliefs, of human joints, horrible and tasteless as the whole idea. I clung fast to the monk, who whispered a prayer, and then said to me, 'Here also I shall some time sleep; wilt thou thus visit me?'

"I answered not a word, but looked horrified at him, and then round about me upon the strange grizzly assembly. It was foolish to take me, a child, into this place. I was singularly impressed with the whole thing, and did not feel myself easy again until I came into his little cell, where the beautiful yellow oranges almost hung in at the window, and I saw the brightly coloured picture of the Madonna, who was borne upwards by angels into the clear sunshine, while a thousand flowers filled the grave in which she had rested.....

"On the festival of All-Saints I was down in the chapel of the dead, where Fra Martino took me when I first visited the convent. All the monks sang masses for the dead, and I, with two other boys of my own age, swung the incense-breathing censer before the great altar of skulls. They had placed lights in the chandeliers made of bones, new garlands were placed around the brows of the skeleton monks, and fresh bouquets in their hands. Many people, as usual, thronged in; they all knelt and the singers intoned the solemn Miserere. I gazed for a long time on the pale yellow skulls, and the fumes of the incense which wavered in strange shapes between me and them, and everything began to swim round before my eyes; it was as if I saw everything through a large rainbow; as if a thousand prayer-bells rung in my ear; it seemed as if I was borne along a stream; it was unspeakably delicious—more, I know not; consciousness left me,—I was in a swoon."—Hans Ch. Andersen.

The street behind the Piazza Cappuccini leads to the Church of S. Isidoro,[241] built 1622, for Irish Franciscan monks. The altar-piece, representing S. Isidore, is by Andrea Sacchi. This church contains several tombs of distinguished Irishmen who have died in Rome.

Opposite are the recently founded convent and small chapel of the Pregatrici—nuns most picturesquely attired in blue and white, and devoted to the perpetual adoration of the Sacrament, who sing during the Benediction service, like the nuns of the Trinità di Monti.

The Via S. Niccolo in Tolentino leads by the handsome Church of that name, from the Piazza Barberini to the railway station. In this street are the hotels "Costanzi" and "Del Globo."

Parallel with, and behind this, the Via S. Basilio runs up the hill-side. At the top of this street is the entrance of the Villa Massimo Rignano, containing some fine palm-trees. This site, with the ridge of the opposite hill, and the valley between, was once occupied by the Gardens of Sallust (Horti Pretiosissimi), purchased for the emperors after the death of the historian, and a favourite residence of Vespasian, Nerva, and especially of Aurelian. Some vaulted halls under the cliff of the opposite hill, and a circular ruin surrounded by niches, are the only remains of the many fine buildings which once existed here, and which comprised a palace, baths, and the portico called Milliarensis, 1000 feet long. These edifices are known to have been ruined when Rome was taken by the Goths under Alaric (410), who entered at the neighbouring Porta Salara. The obelisk now in front of the Trinità di Monti, was removed from hence by Pius VI. The picturesque old casino of the Barberini, which occupied the most prominent position in the gardens, was pulled down in 1869, to make way for a house belonging to Spithover the librarian. The hill-side is supported by long picturesque buttresses, beneath which are remains of the huge masonry of Servius Tullius, whose Agger may be traced on the ridge of the hill running towards the present railway station. Part of these grounds are supposed to have formed the Campus Sceleratus, where the vestal virgins suffered who had broken their vows of chastity.

"When condemned by the college of pontifices, the vestal was stripped of her vittæ and other badges of office, was scourged, was attired like a corpse, placed in a close litter, and borne through the forum, attended by her weeping kindred with all the ceremonies of a real funeral, to the Campus Sceleratus, within the city walls, close to the Colline gate. There a small vault underground had been previously prepared, containing a couch, a lamp, and a table with a little food. The Pontifex Maximus, having lifted up his hands to heaven and uttered a secret prayer, opened the litter, led forth the culprit, and placing her on the steps of the ladder which gave access to the subterranean cell, delivered her over to the common executioner and his assistants, who conducted her down, drew up the ladder, and having filled the pit with earth until the surface was level with the surrounding ground, left her to perish deprived of all the tributes of respect usually paid to the spirits of the departed. In every case the paramour was publicly scourged to death in the forum."—Smith's Dict. of Antiquities.

"A Vignaiuolo showed us in the Gardens of Sallust a hole, through which he said those vestal virgins were put who had violated their vows of chastity. While we were listening to their story, some pretty Contadini came up to us attended by their rustic swains, and after looking into the hole, pitied the vestal virgins—'Poverine,' shrugged their shoulders, and laughing, thanked their stars and the Madonna, that poor Fanciulle were not buried alive for such things now-a-days."—Eaton's Rome.

A turn in the road now leads to the gate of the beautiful Villa Ludovisi, to which it has been very difficult to obtain admittance since the Sardinian occupation. The excellent proprietors, the Duke and Duchess Sora, have lived at Foligno in complete seclusion, since the change of government.

The villa was built early in the last century by Cardinal Ludovisi, nephew of Gregory XV., from whom it descended to the Prince of Piombino, father of Duke Sora. The grounds, which are of an extent extraordinary when considered as being within the walls of a capital, were laid out by Le Nôtre, and are in the stiff French style of high clipped hedges, and avenues adorned with vases and sarcophagi. Near the entrance is a pretty fountain shaded by a huge plane-tree; the Quirinal is seen in the distance.

To the right of the entrance is the principal casino of sculptures, a very beautiful collection (catalogues on the spot). Especially remarkable are,—the grand colossal head, known as the "Ludovisi Juno" (41);

"A Rome, une Junon surpasse toutes les autres par son aspect et rappelle la Junon de Polyclète par sa majesté: c'est la célèbre Junon Ludovisi que Goethe admirait tant, et devant laquelle dans un accès de dévotion païenne,—seul genre de dévotion qu'il ait connu à Rome,—il faisait, nous dit-il, sa prière du matin.

"Cette tête colossale de Junon offre bien les caractères de la sculpture de Polyclète; la gravité, la grandeur, la dignité; mais ainsi que dans d'autres Junons qu'on peut supposer avoir été sculptées à Rome, l'imitateur de Polyclète, on doit le croire, adoucit la sévérité, je dirai presque la dureté de l'original, telle qu'elle se montre sur les médailles d'Argos, et celles d'Elis."—Ampère, Hist. Romaine, iii. 264.

"No words can give a true impression of the colossal head of Juno in the Villa Ludovisi: it is like a song of Homer."—Goethe.

—the Statue of Mars seated (I), with a Cupid at his feet, found in the portico of Octavia, and restored by Bernini;

"II y avait bien un Mars assis de Scopas, et ce Mars était à Rome; mais un dieu dans son temple devait être assis sur un trône et non sur un rocher, comme le prétendu Mars Ludovisi. On a donc eu raison, selon moi, de reconnaître dans cette belle statue un Achille, à l'expression pensive de son visage, et surtout à l'attitude caractéristique que le sculpteur lui a donnée, lui faisant embrasser son genou avec ses deux mains, attitude qui, dans le langage de la sculpture antique, était le signe d'une méditation douloureuse. On citait comme très-beau un Achille de Silanion, sculpteur grec habile à rendre les sentiments violents. D'après cela, son Achille pouvait être un Achille indigné; c'est de lui que viendrait l'Achille de la villa Ludovisi. L'expression de dépit, plus énergique dans l'original, eût été adoucie dans une admirable copie.'—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 437.

—and No. 28;

"Le beau groupe auquel on avait donné le nom d'Arria et Pætus; il fallait fermer les yeux à l'évidence pour voir un Romain du temps de Claude dans ce chef barbare qui, après avoir tué sa femme, se frappe lui-même d'un coup mortel. Le type du visage, la chevelure, le caractère de l'action, tout est gaulois; la manière même dont s'accomplit l'immolation volontaire montre que ce n'est pas un Romain que nous avons devant les yeux; un Romain se tuait plus simplement, avec moins de fracas. Le principal personnage du groupe Ludovisi conserve en ce moment suprême quelque chose de triomphant et de théâtral; soulevant d'une main sa femme affaissée sous le coup qu'il lui a porté, de l'autre il enfonce son épée dans sa poitrine. La tête haute, l'œil tourné vers le ciel, il semble répéter le mot de sa race: 'Je ne crains qu'une chose, c'est que le ciel tombe sur ma tête.'"—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 207.

At the end of the gardens, to the left, is another casino, from whose roof a most beautiful view may be obtained. Here are the most famous frescoes of Guercino. On the ceiling of the ground-floor, Aurora driving away Night and scattering flowers in her course, with Evening and Daybreak in the lunettes; and, on the first floor, "Fame" attended by Force and Virtue. Smaller rooms on the ground floor have landscapes by Guercino and Domenichino, and some groups of Cupids by T. Zucchero; on the staircase is a fine bas-relief of two Cupids dragging a quiver.

"The prophets and sibyls of Guercino da Cento (1590—1666), and his Aurora, in a garden pavilion of the Villa Ludovisi, at Rome, almost attain to the effect of oil paintings in their glowing colouring combined with the broad and dark masses of shadow."—Kugler.

"In allegorising nature, Guercino imitates the deep shades of night, the twilight grey, and the irradiations of morning, with all the magic of chiaroscuro; but his figures are too mortal for the region where they move."—Forsyth.

In B.C. 82, the district near the Porta Collina, now occupied by the Villa Ludovisi, was the scene of a great battle for the very existence of Rome, between Sylla, and the Samnites and Lucanians under the Samnite general Pontius Telesinus, who declared he would raze the city to the ground if he were victorious. The left wing under Sylla was put to flight; but the right wing, commanded by Crassus, enabled him to restore the battle, and to gain a complete victory; fifty thousand men fell on each side.

The road now runs along the ridge of the hill to the Porta Salara, by which Alaric entered Rome through the treachery of the Isaurian guard, on the 24th of August, 410.

Passing through the gate and turning to the right along the outside of the wall, we may see, against the grounds of the Villa Ludovisi, the two round towers of the now closed Porta Pinciana, restored by Belisarius. This is the place where tradition declares that in his declining years the great general sat begging, with the cry, "Date obolum Belisario."

"A côté de la Porta Pinciana, on lit sur une pierre les paroles célèbres: 'Donnez une obole à Bélisaire'; mais cette inscription est moderne, comme la légende à laquelle elle fait allusion, et qu'on ne trouve dans nul historien contemporain de Bélisaire. Bélisaire ne demanda jamais l'aumône, et si le cicerone montre encore aux voyageurs l'endroit où, vieux et aveugle, il implorait une obole de la charité des passants, c'est que près de ce lieu il avait, sur la colline du Pincio, son palais, situé entre les jardins de Lucullus et les jardins de Salluste, et digne probablement de ce double voisinage par sa magnificence. Ce qui est vrai, c'est que le vainqueur des Goths et des Vandales fut disgracié par Justinien, grâce aux intrigues de Théodora. La légende, comme presque toujours, a exprimé par une fable une vérité, l'ingratitude si fréquente des souverains envers ceux qui leur ont rendu lus plus grands services."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 396.

A short distance from the gate, along the Via Salara, is, on the right, the Villa Albani (shown on Tuesdays by an order), built in 1760 by Cardinal Alessandro Albani,—sold in 1834 to the Count of Castelbarco, and in 1868 to Prince Torlonia, its present possessor. The scene from its garden terrace is among the loveliest of Roman pictures, the view of the delicate Sabine mountains—Monte Gennaro, with the Montecelli beneath it—and in the middle distance, the churches of Sant' Agnese and Sta. Costanza, relieved by dark cypresses and a graceful fountain.

The Casino, which is, in fact, a magnificent palace, is remarkable as having been built from Cardinal Albani's own designs, Carlo Marchionni having been only employed to see that they were carried out.

"Here is a villa of exquisite design, planned by a profound antiquary. Here Cardinal Albani, having spent his life in collecting ancient sculpture, formed such porticoes and such saloons to receive it as an old Roman would have done: porticoes where the statues stood free upon the pavement between columns proportioned to their stature; saloons which were not stocked but embellished with families of allied statues, and seemed full without a crowd. Here Winckelmann grew into an antiquary under the cardinal's patronage and instruction; and here he projected his history of art, which brings this collection continually into view."—Forsyth's Italy.

The collection of sculptures is much reduced since the French invasion, when 294 of the finest specimens were carried off by Napoleon to Paris, where they were sold by Prince Albani upon their restoration in 1815, as he was unwilling to bear the expense of transport. The greater proportion of the remaining statues are of no great importance. Those of the imperial family in the vestibule are interesting—those of Julius and Augustus Cæsar, of Agrippina wife of Germanicus, and of Faustina, are seated; most of the heads have been restored.

Conspicuous among the treasures of this villa, are the sarcophagus with reliefs of the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, pronounced by Winckelmann to be one of the finest in existence; a head of Æsop, supposed to be after Lysippus; and the bronze "Apollo Sauroctonos," considered by Winckelmann to be the original statue by Praxiteles described by Pliny, and the most beautiful bronze statue in the world,—it was found on the Aventine. But most important of all is the famous relievo of Antinous crowned with lotus, from the Villa Adriana (over the chimney-piece of the first room to the right of the saloon), supposed to have formed part of an apotheosis of Antinous:

"As fresh, and as highly finished, as if it had just left the studio of the sculptor, this work, after the Apollo and the Laocoon, is perhaps the most beautiful monument of antiquity which time has transmitted to us."—Winckelmann, Hist. de l'Art, vi. ch. 7.

Inferior only to this, is another bas-relief, also over a chimney-piece,—the parting of Orpheus and Eurydice.

"Les deux époux vont se quitter. Eurydice attache sur Orphée un profond regard d'adieu. Sa main est posée sur l'épaule de son époux, geste ordinaire dans les groupes qui expriment la séparation de ceux qui s'aiment. La main d'Orphée dégage doucement celle d'Eurydice, tandis que Mercure fait de la sienne un léger mouvement pour l'entraîner. Dans ce léger mouvement est tout leur sort; l'effet le plus pathétique est produit par la composition la plus simple; l'émotion la plus pénétrante s'exhale de la sculpture la plus tranquille."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 256.

The villa also contains a collection of pictures, of which the most interesting are the sketches of Giulio Romano for the frescoes of the story of Psyche in the Palazzo del Te at Mantua, and two fine pictures by Luca Signorelli and Perugino, in compartments, in the first room on the left of the saloon. All the works of art have lately been rearranged. The Caffè and the Bigliardo—(reached by an avenue of oaks, which, being filled with ancient tombstones, has the effect of a cemetery)—contain more statues, but of less importance.

Beyond the villa, the Via Salara (said by Pliny to derive its name from the salt of Ostia exported to the north by this route) passes on the left the site of Antemnæ, and crosses the Anio two miles from the city, by the Ponte Salara, destroyed by the Roman government in the terror of Garibaldi's approach from Monte Rotondo, in 1867. This bridge was a restoration by Narses, in the sixth century, but stood on the foundations of that famous Ponte Salara, upon which Titus Manlius fought the Gaulish giant, and cutting off his head, carried off the golden collar which earned him the name of Torquatus.

"Manlius prend un bouclier léger de fantassin, une épée espagnole commode pour combattre de très-près, et s'avance à la rencontre du Barbare. Les deux champions, isolés sur le pont, comme sur un théâtre, se joignent au milieu. Le Barbare portait un vêtement bariolé et une armure ornée de dessins et d'incrustations dorées, conforme au caractère de sa race, aussi vaine que vaillante. Les armes du Romain étaient bonnes, mais sans éclat. Point chez lui, comme chez son adversaire, de chant, de transports, d'armes agitées avec fureur, mais un cœur plein de courage et d'une colère muette qu'il réservait tout entière pour le combat.

"Le Gaulois, qui dépassait son adversaire de toute la tête, met en avant son bouclier et fait tomber pesamment son glaive sur l'armure de son adversaire. Celui-ci le heurte deux fois de son bouclier, le force à reculer, le trouble, et se glissant alors entre le bouclier et le corps du Gaulois, de deux coups rapidement portés lui ouvre le ventre. Quand le grand corps est tombé, Manlius lui coupe la tête, et, ramassant le collier de son ennemi décapité, jette tout sanglant sur son cou ce collier, le torques, propre aux Gaulois, et qu'on peut voir au Capitole porté par celui qu'on appelle à tort le gladiateur mourant. Un soldat donne, en plaisantant, à Manlius le sobriquet de Torquatus, que sa famille a toujours été fière de porter."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 10.

Beyond the ruins of the bridge, is a huge tomb with a tower, now used as an Osteria. Hence, the road leads by the Villa of Phaon (Villa Spada) where Nero died, and the site of Fidenæ, now known as Castel Giubeleo, to Monte Rotondo.

The district beyond the Porta Salara, and that extending between the Via Salara and the Monte Parioli, are completely undermined by catacombs (see Ch. IX.). The most important are—1. Nearest the gate, the Catacomb of St. Felicitas, which had three tiers of galleries, adorned by Pope Boniface I., who took refuge there from persecution,—now much dilapidated. Over this cemetery was a church, now destroyed, which is mentioned by William of Malmesbury. 2. The Catacomb of SS. Thraso and Saturninus, much decorated with the usual paintings. 3. The Catacomb of Sta. Priscilla, near the descent to the Anio. This cemetery is of great interest, from the number of martyrs' graves it contains, and from its peculiar construction in an ancient arenarium, pillars and walls of masonry being added throughout the central part, in order to sustain the tufa walls. Here were buried—probably because the entrance to the Chapel of the Popes at St. Calixtus was blocked up to preserve it in the persecution under Diocletian—Pope St. Marcellinus (ob. 308), and Pope St. Marcellus (ob. 310), who was sent into exile by Maxentius. On the tomb of the latter was placed, in finely cut type, the following epitaph by Pope Damasus:—

"Veredicus Rector, lapsos quia crimina flere

Prædixit, miseris fuit omnibus hostis amarus.

Hinc furor, hinc odium sequitur, discordia, lites,

Seditio, cædes, solvuntur fœdera pacis.

Crimen ob alterius Christum qui in pace negavit,

Finibus expulsus patriæ est feritate tyranni.

Hæc breviter Damasus voluit comperta referre,

Marcelli ut populus meritum cognoscere posset."

"The truth-speaking pope, because he preached that the lapsed should weep for their crimes, was bitterly hated by all those unhappy ones. Hence followed fury, hatred, discord, contentions, sedition, and slaughter, and the bonds of peace were ruptured. For the crime of another, who in (a time of) peace had denied Christ, (the pontiff) was expelled the shores of his country by the cruelty of the tyrant. These things Damasus having learnt, was desirous to narrate briefly, that people might recognise the merit of Marcellus."[242]

Several of the paintings in this catacomb are remarkable; especially that of a woman with a child, claimed by the Roman Church as one of the earliest representations of the Virgin. The painting is thus described by Northcote:—

"De Rossi unhesitatingly says that he believes this painting of our Blessed Lady to belong almost to the apostolic age. It is to be seen on the vaulted roof of a loculus, and represents the Blessed Virgin seated, her head partially covered by a short light veil, and with the Holy Child in her arms; opposite to her stands a man, clothed in the pallium, holding a volume in one hand, and with the other pointing to a star which appears above and between the figures. This star almost always accompanies our Blessed Lady, both in paintings and in sculptures, where there is an obvious historical excuse for it, e. g., when she is represented with the Magi offering their gifts, or by the side of the manger with the ox and the ass; but with a single figure, as in the present instance, it is unusual. The most obvious conjecture would be that the figure was meant for St. Joseph, or for one of the Magi. De Rossi, however, gives many reasons for preferring the prophet Isaias, whose prophecies concerning the Messias abound with imagery borrowed from light."—Roma Sotterranea.

This catacomb is one of the oldest, Sta. Priscilla, from whom it is named, being supposed to have been the mother of Pudens, and a contemporary of the apostles. Her granddaughters, Prassede and Pudenziana, were buried here before the removal of their relics to the church on the Esquiline. With this cemetery is connected the extraordinary history of the manufacture of Sta. Filomena, now one of the most popular saints in Italy, and one towards whom idolatry is carried out with frantic enthusiasm both at Domo d'Ossola and in some of the Neapolitan States. The story of this saint is best told in the words of Mrs. Jameson.

"In the year 1802, while some excavations were going forward in the catacomb of Priscilla, a sepulchre was discovered containing the skeleton of a young female; on the exterior were rudely painted some of the symbols constantly recurring in these chambers of the dead; an anchor, an olive branch (emblems of Hope and Peace), a scourge, two arrows, and a javelin: above them the following inscription, of which the beginning and end were destroyed:—

——LUMENA PAX TE CUM FI——

"The remains, reasonably supposed to be those of one of the early martyrs for the faith, were sealed up and deposited in the treasury of relics in the Lateran; here they remained for some years unthought of. On the return of Pius VII. from France, a Neapolitan prelate was sent to congratulate him. One of the priests in his train, who wished to create a sensation in his district, where the long residence of the French had probably caused some decay of piety, begged for a few relics to carry home, and these recently discovered remains were bestowed on him; the inscription was translated somewhat freely, to signify Santa Philumena, rest in peace. Another priest, whose name is suppressed because of his great humility, was favoured by a vision in the broad noon-day, in which he beheld the glorious virgin Filomena, who was pleased to reveal to him that she had suffered death for preferring the Christian faith and her vow of chastity to the addresses of the emperor, who wished to make her his wife. This vision leaving much of her history obscure, a certain young artist, whose name is also suppressed, perhaps because of his great humility, was informed in a vision that the emperor alluded to was Diocletian, and at the same time the torments and persecutions suffered by the Christian virgin Filomena, as well as her wonderful constancy, were also revealed to him. There were some difficulties in the way of the Emperor Diocletian, which incline the writer of the historical account to incline to the opinion that the young artist in his wisdom may have made a mistake, and that the emperor may have been not Diocletian but Maximian. The facts, however, now admitted of no doubt; the relics were carried by the priest Francesco da Lucia to Naples; they were enclosed in a case of wood resembling in form the human body; this figure was habited in a petticoat of white satin, and over it a crimson tunic after the Greek fashion; the face was painted to represent nature, a garland of flowers was placed on the head, and in the hands a lily and a javelin with the point reversed to express her purity and her martyrdom; then she was laid in a half-sitting posture in a sarcophagus, of which the sides were glass, and, after lying for some time in state in the chapel of the Torres family in the Church of Sant' Angiolo, she was carried in grand procession to Mugnano, a little town about twenty miles from Naples, amid the acclamations of the people, working many and surprising miracles by the way.... Such is the legend of Sta. Filomena, and such the authority on which she has become within the last twenty years one of the most popular saints in Italy."—Sacred and Legendary Art, p. 671.

It is hoped that very interesting relics may still be discovered in this Catacomb.

"In an account preserved by St. Gregory of Tours, we are told that under Numerianus, the martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria were put to death in an arenaria, and that a great number of the faithful having been seen entering a subterranean crypt on the Via Salara, to visit their tombs, the heathen emperor caused the entrance to be hastily built up, and a vast mound of sand and stone to be heaped in front of it, so that they might be all buried alive, even as the martyrs whom they had come to venerate. St. Gregory adds, that when the tombs of these martyrs were re-discovered, after the ages of persecution had ceased, there were found with them, not only the relics of those worshippers who had been thus cruelly put to death, skeletons of men, women, and children lying on the floor, but also the silver cruets (urcei argentei) which they had taken down with them for the celebration of the sacred mysteries. St. Damasus was unwilling to destroy so touching a memorial of past ages. He abstained from making any of those changes by which he usually decorated the martyrs' tombs, but contented himself with setting up one of his invaluable historical inscriptions, and opening a window in the adjacent wall or rock, that all might see, without disturbing, this monument so unique in its kind—this Christian Pompeii in miniature. These things might still be seen in St. Gregory's time, in the sixth century; and De Rossi holds out hopes that some traces of them may be restored even to our own generation, some fragments of the inscription perhaps, or even the window itself through which our ancestors once saw so moving a spectacle, assisting, as it were, at a mass celebrated in the third century."—Roma Sotterranea, p. 88.

Returning to the Porta Salara, and following the walls, we reach the Porta Pia, built, as it is now seen, by Pius IX.—very ugly, but appropriately decorated with statues of St. Agnes and St. Alexander, to whose shrines it leads. The statues lost their heads in the capture of Rome in 1870 by the Italian troops, who entered the city by a breach in the walls close to this. A little to the right was the Porta Nomentana, flanked by round towers, closed by Pius IV. It was by this gate that the oppressed Roman people retreated to the Mons Sacer—and that Nero fled.

"Suivons-le du Grand-Cirque à la porte Nomentane. Quel spectacle! Néron, accoutumé à toutes les recherches de la volupté, s'avance à cheval, les pieds nus, en chemise, couvert d'un vieux manteau dont la couleur était passée, un mouchoir sur le visage. Quatre personnes seulement l'accompagnent; parmi elles est ce Sporus, que dans un jour d'indicible folie il avait publiquement épousé. Il sent la terre trembler, il voit les éclairs au ciel: Néron a peur. Tous ceux qu'il a fait mourir lui apparaissent et semblent se précipiter sur lui. Nous voici à la porte Nomentane, qui touche au Camp des Prétoriens. Néron reconnaît ce lieu où, il y a quinze ans, suivant alors le chemin qu'il vient de suivre, il est venu se faire reconnaître empereur par les prétoriens. En passant sous les murs de leur camp, vers lequel son destin le ramène, il les entend former des vœux pour Galba, et lancer des imprécations contre lui. Un passant lui dit: 'Voilà des gens qui cherchent Néron.' Son cheval se cabre au milieu de la route: c'est qu'il a flairé un cadavre. Le mouchoir qui couvrait son visage tombe; un prétorien qui se trouvait là le ramasse et le rend à l'empereur, qu'il salue par son nom. A chacun de ces incidents son effroi redouble. Enfin il est arrivé à un petit chemin qui s'ouvre à notre gauche, dans la direction de la voie Salara, parallèle à la voie Nomentane. C'est entre ces deux voies qu'était la villa de Phaon, à quatre milles de Rome. Pour l'attendre, Néron, qui a mis pied à terre, s'enfonce à travers un fourré d'épines et un champ de roseaux comme il s'en trouve tant dans la Campagne de Rome; il a peine de s'y frayer un chemin; il arrive ainsi au mur de derrière de la villa. Près de là était un de ces antres creusés pour l'extraction du sable volcanique, appelé pouzzolane, tels qu'on en voit encore de ce côté. Phaon engage le fugitif à s'y cacher; il refuse. On fait un trou dans la muraille de la villa par où il pénètre, marchant quatre pieds, dans l'intérieur. Il entre dans une petite salle et se couche sur un lit formé d'un méchant matelas sur lequel on avait jeté un vieux manteau. Ceux qui l'entourent le pressent de mourir pour échapper aux outrages et au supplice. Il essaye à plusieurs reprises de se donner la mort et n'y peut se résoudre; il pleure. Enfin, en entendant les cavaliers qui venaient le saisir, il cite un vers grec, fait un effort et se tue avec le secours d'un affranchi."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 65.

Immediately outside the Porta Pia is the entrance of the beautiful Villa Patrizi, whose grounds enclose the small Catacomb of St. Nicomedus. Then comes the Villa Lezzani, where Sta. Giustina is buried in a chapel, and where her festa is observed on the 25th of October.

Beyond this is the ridiculous Villa Torlonia (shown with an order on Wednesdays from 11 to 4, but not worth seeing), sprinkled with mock ruins.

At little more than a mile from the gate the road reaches the Basilica of St' Agnese fuori le Mura, founded by Constantine at the request of his daughter Constantia, in honour of the virgin martyr buried in the neighbouring catacomb; but rebuilt 625—38 by Honorius I. It was altered in 1490 by Innocent VIII., but retains more of its ancient character than most of the Roman churches. The polychrome decorations of the interior, and the rebuilding of the monastery, were carried out at the expense of Pius IX., as a thank-offering for his escape, when he fell through the floor here into a cellar, with his cardinals and attendants, on April 15, 1855. The scene is represented in a large fresco by Domenico Tojetti, in a chamber on the right of the courtyard.

The approach to the church is by a picturesque staircase of forty-five ancient marble steps, lined with inscriptions from the catacombs. The nave is divided from the aisles by sixteen columns, four of which are of "porta-santa" and two of "pavonazzetto." A smaller range of columns above these supports the roof of a triforium, which is on a level with the road. The baldacchino, erected in 1614, is supported by four porphyry columns. Beneath is the shrine of St. Agnes surmounted by her statue, an antique of oriental alabaster, with modern head, and hands of gilt bronze. The mosaics of the tribune, representing St. Agnes between Popes Honorius I. and Symmachus, are of the seventh century. Beneath, is an ancient episcopal chair.

The second chapel on the right has a beautiful mosaic altar, and a relief of SS. Stephen and Laurence of 1490. The third chapel is that of St. Emerentiana, foster-sister of St. Agnes, who was discovered praying beside the tomb of her friend, and was stoned to death because she refused to sacrifice to idols.

"So ancient is the worship paid to St. Agnes, that next to the Evangelists and Apostles, there is no saint whose effigy is older. It is found on the ancient glass and earthenware vessels used by the Christians in the early part of the third century, with her name inscribed, which leaves no doubt of her identity. But neither in these images, nor in the mosaics, is the lamb introduced, which in later times has become her inseparable attribute, as the patroness of maidens and maidenly modesty."—Jameson's Sacred Art, p. 105.

St. Agnes suffered martyrdom by being stabbed in the throat, under Diocletian, in her thirteenth year (see Ch. XIV.), after which, according to the expression used in the acts of her martyrdom, her parents "with all joy" laid her in the catacombs. One day as they were praying near the body of their child, she appeared to them surrounded by a great multitude of virgins, triumphant and glorious like herself, with a lamb by her side, and said, "I am in heaven, living with these virgins my companions, near Him whom I have so much loved." By her tomb, also, Constantia, a princess sick with hopeless leprosy, was praying for the healing of her body, when she heard a voice saying, "Rise up, Constantia, and go on constantly ('Costanter age, Constantia') in the faith of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who shall heal your diseases,"—and, being cured of her evil, she besought her father to build this basilica as a thank-offering.[243]

On the 21st of January, a beautiful service is celebrated here, in which two lambs, typical of the purity of the virgin saint, are blessed upon the altar. They are sent by the chapter of St. John Lateran, and their wool is afterwards used to make the pallium of the pope, which is consecrated before it is worn, by being deposited in a golden urn upon the tomb of St. Peter. The pallium is the sign of episcopal jurisdiction.

"Ainsi, le simple ornement de laine que ces prélats doivent porter sur leurs épaules comme symbole de la brebis du bon Pasteur, et que le pontife Romain prend sur l'autel même de Saint Pierre pour le leur adresser, va porter jusqu'aux extrémités de l'Eglise, dans une union sublime, le double sentiment de la force du Prince des Apôtres et de la douceur virginale d'Agnes."—Dom Guéranger.

Close to St' Agnese is the round Church of Sta. Costanza. erected by Constantine as a mausoleum for his daughters Constantia and Helena, and converted into a church by Alexander IV. (1254—61) in honour of the Princess Constantia, ob. 354, whose life is represented by Marcellinus as anything but saintlike, and who is supposed to have been confused in her canonization with a sainted nun of the same name. The rotunda, seventy-three feet in diameter, is surrounded by a vaulted corridor; twenty-four double columns of granite support the dome. The vaulting is covered with mosaic arabesques of the fourth century, of flowers and birds, with scenes referring to a vintage. The same subjects are repeated on the splendid porphyry sarcophagus of Sta. Costanza, of which the interest is so greatly marred by its removal to the Vatican from its proper site, whence it was first stolen by Pope Paul II., who intended to use it as his own tomb.

"Les enfants qui foulent le raisin, tels qu'on les voit dans les mosaïques de l'église de Sainte Constance, les bas-reliefs de son tombeau et ceux de beaucoup d'autres tombeaux chrétiens sont bien d'origine païenne, car on les voit aussi figurer dans les bas-reliefs où paraît Priape."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 257.

Behind the two churches is an oblong space, ending in a fine mass of ruin, which is best seen from the valley below. This was long supposed to be the Hippodrome of Constantine, but is now discovered to have belonged to an early Christian cemetery.

The Catacomb of St Agnese is entered from a vineyard about a quarter of a mile beyond the church. It is lighted and opened to the public on St. Agnes' Day. After those of St. Calixtus, this, perhaps, is the catacomb which is most worthy of a visit.

We enter by a staircase attributed to the time of Constantine. The passages are lined with the usual loculi for the dead, sometimes adapted for a single body, sometimes for two laid together. Beside many of the graves the palm of victory may be seen scratched on the mortar, and remains of the glass bottles or ampullæ, which are supposed to indicate the graves of martyrs, and to have contained a portion of their blood, of which they are often said to retain the trace. One of the graves in the first gallery bears the names of consuls of A.D. 336, which fixes the date of this part of the cemetery.

The most interesting features here are a square chamber hewn in the rock, with an arm-chair (sedia) cut out of the rock on either side of the entrance, supposed to have been a school for catechists,—and near this is a second chamber for female catechists, with plain seats in the same position. Opening out of the gallery close by is a chamber which was apparently used as a chapel; its arcosolium has marks of an altar remaining at the top of the grave, and near it is a credence-table; the roof is richly painted,—in the central compartment is our Lord seated between the rolls of the Old and New Testament. Above the arcosolium, in the place of honour, is our Saviour as the Good Shepherd, bearing a sheep upon his shoulders, and standing between other sheep and trees;—in the other compartments are Daniel in the lions' den, the Three Children in the furnace, Moses taking off his shoes, Moses striking the rock, and—nearest the entrance—the Paralytic carrying his bed. A neighbouring chapel has also remains of an altar and credence-table, and well-preserved paintings,—the Good Shepherd, Adam and Eve, with the tree between them, Jonah under the gourd, and in the fourth compartment a figure described by Protestants merely as an Orante, and by Roman Catholics as the Blessed Virgin.[244] Near this chapel we can look down through an opening into the second floor of the catacomb, which is lined with graves like the first.

In the further part of the catacomb is a long narrow chapel which has received the name of the cathedral or basilica. It is divided into three parts, of which the furthest, or presbytery, contains an ancient episcopal chair with lower seats on either side for priests—probably the throne where Pope St. Liberius (A.D. 359) officiated, with his face to the people, when he lived for more than a year hidden here from persecution. Hence a flight of steps leads down to what Northcote calls "the Lady Chapel," where, over the altar, is a fresco of an orante, without a nimbus, with outstretched arms,—with a child in front of her. On either side of this picture, a very interesting one, is the monogram of Constantine, and the painting is referred to his time. Near this chapel is a chamber with a spring running through it, evidently used as a baptistery.

At the extremity of the catacomb, under the basilica of St. Agnes, is one of its most interesting features. Here the passages become wider and more irregular, the walls sloping and unformed, and graves cease to appear, indicating one of the ancient arenaria, which here formed the approach to the catacomb, and beyond which the Christians excavated their cemetery.

The graves throughout almost all the catacombs have been rifled, the bones which they contained being distributed as relics throughout Roman Catholic Christendom, and most of the sarcophagi and inscriptions removed to the Lateran and other museums.

"Vous pourriez voir ici la capitale des catacombes de toute la chrétienté. Les martyrs, les confesseurs, et les vierges, y fourmillent de tous côtés. Quand on se fait besoin de quelques reliques en pays étrangers, le Pape n'a qu'à descendre ici et crier, Qui de vous autres veut aller être saint en Pologne? Alors, s'il se trouve quelque mort de bonne volonté, il se lève et s'en va."—De Brosses, 1739.

Half a mile beyond St' Agnese, the road reaches the willow-fringed river Anio, in which "Silvia changed her earthly life for that of a goddess," and which carried the cradle containing her two babes Romulus and Remus into the Tiber, to be brought to land at the foot of the Palatine fig-tree. Into this river we may also recollect that Sylla caused the ashes of his ancient rival Marius to be thrown. The river is crossed by the Ponte Nomentana, a mediæval bridge, partially covered, with forked battlements.

"Ponte Nomentana is a solitary dilapidated bridge in the spacious green Campagna. Many ruins from the days of ancient Rome, and many watch-towers from the middle ages, are scattered over this long succession of meadows; chains of hills rise towards the horizon, now partially covered with snow, and fantastically varied in form and colour by the shadows of the clouds. And there is also the enchanting vapoury vision of the Alban hills, which change their hues like the chameleon, as you gaze at them—where you can see for miles little white chapels glittering on the dark foreground of the hills, as far as the Passionist Convent on the summit, and whence you can trace the road winding through thickets, and the hills sloping downwards to the lake of Albano, while a hermitage peeps through the trees."—Mendelssohn's Letters.

The hill immediately beyond the bridge is the Mons Sacer (not only the part usually pointed out on the right of the road, but the whole hillside), to which the famous secession of the Plebs took place in B.C. 549, amounting, according to Dionysius, to about 4000 persons. Here they encamped upon the green slopes for four months, to the terror of the patricians, who foresaw that Rome, abandoned by its defenders, would fall before its enemies, and that the crops would perish for want of cultivation. Here Menenius Agrippa delivered his apologue of the belly and its members, which is said to have induced them to return to Rome; that which really decided them to do so being the concession of tribunes, to be the organs and representatives of the plebs as the consuls were of the patricians. The epithet Sacer is ascribed by Dionysius to an altar which the plebeians erected at the time on the hill to Ζεὑς Δειμἁτιος.

A second secession to the Mons Sacer took place in B.C. 449, when the plebs rose against Appius Claudius after the death of Virginia, and retired hither under the advice of M. Duilius, till the decemvirs resigned.

Following the road beyond the bridge past the castle known as Casale dei Pazzi (once used as a lunatic asylum) and the picturesque tomb called Torre Nomentana,—as far as the seventh milestone—we reach the remains of the unburied Basilica of S. Alessandro, built on the site of the place where that pope suffered martyrdom with his companions Eventius and Theodulus, A.D. 119, and was buried on the same spot by the Christian matron Severina.[245] The plan of the basilica, disinterred 1856-7, is still quite perfect. The tribune and high altar retain fragments of rich marbles and alabasters; the episcopal throne also remains in its place.

The "Acts of the martyrs Alexander, Eventius, and Theodulus," narrate that Severina buried the bodies of the first two martyrs in one tomb, and the third separately—"Theodulum vero alibi sepelivit." This is borne out by the discovery of a chapel opening from the nave, where the single word "martyri," is supposed to point out the grave of Theodulus. A baptistery has been found with its font, and another chapel adjoining is pointed out as the place where neophytes assembled to receive confirmation from the bishop. Among epitaphs laid bare in the pavement is one to a youth named Apollo "votus Deo" (dedicated to the priesthood?) at the age of 14. Entered from the church is the catacomb called "ad nymphas," containing many ancient inscriptions and a few rude paintings.

Mass is solemnly performed here by the Cardinal Prefect of the Propaganda on the festival of St. Alexander, May 3, when the roofless basilica—backed by the blue Sabine mountains and surrounded by the utterly desolate Campagna—is filled with worshippers, and presents a striking scene. Beyond this a road to the left leads through beautiful woods to Mentana, occupying the site of the ancient Nomentum, and recently celebrated for the battle between the papal troops and the Garibaldians on Nov. 3, 1867. The conflict took place chiefly on the hillside which is passed on the right before reaching the town. Two miles further is Monte Rotondo, with a fine old castle of the Barberini family (once of the Orsini), from which there is a beautiful view. This place was also the scene of fighting in 1867. It is possible to vary the route in returning to Rome from hence by the lower road which leads by the (now broken) Ponte Salara.

If we re-enter Rome by the Porta Pia, immediately within the gates we find another Villa belonging to the Torlonia family. The straight road from the gate leads by the Termini to the Quattro Fontane and the Monte Cavallo. On the left, if we follow the Via de Macao, which takes its strange name from a gift of land which the princes of Savoy made to the Jesuits for a mission in China, we reach a small piazza with two pines, where a gate on the left leads to the remains of the Pretorian Camp, established by Sejanus, the minister of Tiberius. It was dismantled by Constantine, but from three sides having been enclosed by Aurelian in the line of his city-wall, its form is still preserved to us. The Pretorian Camp was an oblong of 1200 by 1500 feet; its area was occupied by a vineyard of the Jesuits till 1861, when a "Campo Militare" was again established here, for the pontifical troops.

"En suivant l'enceinte de Rome, quand on arrive à l'endroit où elle se continue par le mur du Camp des prétoriens, on est frappé de la supériorité de construction que présente celui-ci. La partie des murs d'Honorius qui est voisine a été refaite au huitième siècle. Le commencement et la fin de l'empire se touchent. On peut apprécier d'un coup d'œil l'état de la civilisation aux deux époques: voilà ce qu'on faisait dans le premier siècle, et voilà ce qu'on faisait au huitième, après la conquête de l'empire Romain par les Barbares. Il faut songer toutefois que cette époque où l'on construisait si bien a amené celle où l'on ne savait plus construire."—Ampère, Emp. i. 421.

Hence a road, three-quarters of a mile long, leads—passing under an arch of Sixtus V.—to the Porta S. Lorenzo (Ch. XIII.).

The road opposite the gateway leading to the Camp is bordered on the left by the buildings belonging to the Railway Station, beyond which is the entrance to the grounds of the Villa Massimo Negroni, which possessed a delightful terrace, fringed with orange-trees—a most agreeable sunny walk in winter—and many pleasant shady nooks and corners for summer, but which has been mutilated and stripped of all its beauties since the Sardinian rule. In a part of this villa beyond the railway but still visible from hence, is a colossal statue of Minerva (generally called "Rome"), which is a relic of the residence here of Cardinal Felix Perretti, who as a boy had watched the pigs of his father at Montalto, and who lived to mount the papal throne as Sixtus V. The pedestal of the statue bears his arms,—a lion holding three pears in its paw. Here, with her husband's uncle, lived the famous Vittoria Accoramboni, the wife of the handsome Francesco Perretti, who had been vainly sought in marriage by the powerful and ugly old Prince Paolo Orsini. It was from hence that her young husband was summoned to a secret interview with her brothers on the slopes of the Quirinal, where he was cruelly murdered by the hired bravos of her first lover. Hence also Vittoria went forth—on the very day of the installation of Sixtus V.—to her strange second marriage with the murderer of her husband, who died six months after, leaving her with one of the largest fortunes in Italy—an amount of wealth which led to her own barbarous murder through the jealousy of the Orsini a month afterwards.

Here, after the election of her brother to the papacy, lived Camilla, the sister of Sixtus V., whom he refused to recognise when she came to him in splendid attire as a princess, but tenderly embraced when she reappeared in her peasant's wimple and hood. From hence her two granddaughters were married,—one to Virginius Orsini, the other to Marc-Antonio Colonna, an alliance which healed the feud of centuries between the two families.

In later times the Villa Negroni was the residence of the poet Alfieri.

The principal terrace ends near a reservoir which belonged to the baths of Diocletian.

"As one looks from the Villa Negroni windows, one cannot fail to be impressed by the strange changes through which this wonderful city has passed. The very spot on which Nero, the insane emperor-artist, fiddled while Rome was burning, has now become a vast kitchen-garden, belonging to Prince Massimo (himself a descendant, as he claims, of Fabius Cunctator), where men no longer, but only lettuces, asparagus, and artichokes, are ruthlessly cut down. The inundations are not for mock sea-fights among slaves, but for the peaceful purposes of irrigation. In the bottom of the valley, a noble old villa, covered with frescoes, has been turned into a manufactory for bricks, and part of the Villa Negroni itself is now occupied by the railway station. Yet here the princely family of Negroni lived, and the very lady at whose house Lucrezia Borgia took her famous revenge may once have sauntered under the walls, which still glow with ripening oranges, to feed the gold fish in the fountain,—or walked with stately friends through the long alleys of clipped cypresses, or pic-nicked alla Giornata on lawns which are now but kitchen-gardens, dedicated to San Cavolo."—Story's Roba di Roma.

The lower part of the Villa Negroni, and the slopes towards the Esquiline, were once celebrated as the Campus Esquilinus, a large pauper burial-ground, where bodies were thrown into pits called puticoli,[246] as is still the custom at Naples. There were also tombs here of a somewhat pretentious character: "those probably of rich well-to-do burgesses, yet not great enough to command the posthumous honour of a roadside mausoleum."[247] Horace dwells on the horrors of this burial-ground, where he places the scene of Canidia's incantations:—

"Nec in sepulcris pauperum prudens anus

Novemdiales dissipare pulveres."

Epod. xvii. 47.

'Has nullo perdere possum

Nec prohibere modo, simul ac vaga luna decorum

Protulit os, quin ossa legant, herbasque nocentes.

Vidi egomet nigrâ succinctam vadere pallâ

Canidiam, pedibus nudis passoque capillo,

Cum Saganâ majore ululantem; pallor utrasque

Fecerat horrendas aspectu,

. . . . . . .

Serpentes atque videres

Infernas errare canes; lunamque rubentem,

Ne foret his testis, post magna latere sepulcra."

Hor. Sat. i. 8'

The place was considered very unhealthy until its purification by Mæcenas.

"Huc prius angustis ejecta cadavera cellis

Conservus vili portanda locabat in arcâ.

Hoc miseræ plebi stabat commune sepulcrum,

Pantolabo scurræ, Nomentanoque nepoti.

Mille pedes in fronte, trecentos cippus in agrum

Hîc dabat; heredes monumentum ne sequeretur.

Nunc licet Esquiliis habitare salubribus, atque

Aggere in aprico spatiari; quo modo tristes

Albis informem spectabant ossibus agrum."

Hor. Sat. i. 8.

"Post insepulta membra different lupi,

Et Esquilinæ alites."

Hor. Ep. v. 100.

"The Campus Esquilinus, between the roads which issued from the Esquiline and Viminal gates, was the spot assigned for casting out the carcases of slaves, whose foul and half-burnt remains were hardly hidden from the vultures. The accursed field was enclosed, it would appear, neither by wall nor fence, to exclude the wandering steps of man or beast; and from the public walk on the summit of the ridge, it must have been viewed in all its horrors. Here prowled in troops the houseless dogs of the city and the suburbs; here skulked the solitary wolf from the Alban hills, and here perhaps, to the doleful murmurs of the Marsic chaunt, the sorceress compounded her philtres of the ashes of dead men's bones. Mæcenas (B.C. 7) deserved the gratitude of the citizens, when he obtained a grant of this piece of land, and transformed it into a park or garden.... The Campus Esquilinus is now part of the gardens of the Villa Negroni."—Merivale, Romans under the Empire.

Within what were the grounds of the Villa Negroni until they were encroached upon by the railway, but now only to be visited with a "lascia passare" from the station master, are some of the best remains of the Agger of Servius Tullius. In 1869—70, some curious painted chambers were discovered here, but were soon destroyed,—and the foolish jealousy of the authorities prevented any drawings or photographs being taken. The Agger can be traced from the Porta Esquilina (near the Arch of Gallienus), to the Porta Collina (near the Gardens of Sallust). In the time of the empire it had become a kind of promenade, as we learn from Horace.[248]

Opposite the station are the vast, but for the most part uninteresting, remains of the Baths of Diocletian, covering a space of 440,000 square yards. They were begun by Diocletian and Maximian, about A.D. 302, and finished by Constantius and Maximinus. It is stated by Cardinal Baronius, that 40,000 Christians were employed in the work; some bricks marked with crosses have been found in the ruins. At the angles of the principal front were two circular halls, both of which remain; one is near the modern Villa Strozzi, at the back of the Negroni garden, and is now used as a granary, the other is transformed into the Church of S. Bernardo.

The Baths are supposed to have first fallen into decay after the Gothic invasion of A.D. 410. In the sixteenth century the site was sold to Cardinal Bella, ambassador of Francis I. at Rome, who built a fine palace among the ruins; after his death, in 1560, the property was re-sold to S. Carlo Borromeo. He sold it again to his uncle, Pope Pius IV., who founded the monastery of Carthusian monks. These, in 1593, sold part of the ruins to Caterina Sforza, who founded the Cistercian convent of S. Bernardo.

About 1520, a Sicilian priest called Antonio del Duca came to Rome, bringing with him from Palermo pictures of the seven archangels (Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Santhiel, Gendiel, and Borachiel), copied from some which existed in the Church of S. Angiolo. Carried away by the desire of instituting archangel-worship at Rome, he obtained leave to affix these pictures to seven of the columns still standing erect in the Baths of Diocletian, which, ten years after, Julius II. allowed to be consecrated under the title of Sta. Maria degli Angeli; though Pius IV., declaring that angel-worship had never been sanctioned by the Church, except under the three names mentioned in Scripture, ordered the pictures of Del Duca to be taken away.[249] At the same time he engaged Michael Angelo to convert the great oblong hall of the Baths (Calidarium) into a church. The church then arranged was not such as we now see, the present entrance having been then the atrium of the side chapel, and the main entrance at first by what is now the right transept, while the high altar stood in what is now the left transept. In 1749, the desire of erecting a chapel to the Beato Nicolo Albergati, led to the church being altered, under Vanvitelli, as we now see it.

The Church of Sta. Maria degli Angeli, still most magnificent, is now entered by a rotunda (Laconicum) which contains four monuments of some interest; on the right of the entrance is that of the artist Carlo Maratta, who died 1713; on the left that of Salvator Rosa, who died 1673, with an epitaph by his son, describing him as "Pictorum sui temporis nulli secundum, poetarum omnium temporum principibus parem!" Beyond, on the right, is the monument of Cardinal Alciati, professor of law at Milan, who procured his hat through the interest of S. Carlo Borromeo, with the epitaph "Virtute vixit, memoria vivit, gloria vivet,"—on the left, that of Cardinal Parisio di Corenza, inscribed, "Corpus humo tegitur, fama per ora volat, spiritus astra tenet." In the chapel on the right are the angels of Peace and Justice, by Pettrich; in that on the left Christ appearing to the Magdalen, by Arrigo Fiamingo. Against the pier on the right is the grand statue of S. Bruno, by Houdon, of which Clement XIV. (Ganganelli) used to say, "He would speak, if the rule of his Order did not forbid it."

The body of the church is now a perfect gallery of very large pictures, most of which were brought from St. Peter's, where their places have been supplied by mosaic copies. In what is now the right transept, on the right, is the Crucifixion of St. Peter, Ricciolini; the Fall of Simon Magus, a copy of Francesco Vanni (the original in St. Peter's); on the left, St. Jerome, with St. Bruno and St. Francis, Muziano (1528—92) (the landscape by Brill); and the Miracles of St. Peter, Baglioni. This transept ends in the chapel of the Beato Nicolo Albergati, a Carthusian Cardinal, who was sent as legate by Martin V., in 1422, to make a reconciliation between Charles VI. of France and Henry V. of England. The principal miracle ascribed to him, the conversion of bread into coal in order to convince the Emperor of Germany of his divine authority, is represented in the indifferent altar-piece. In the left transept, which ends in the chapel of S. Bruno, are: on the left, St. Basil by the solemnity of the Mass rebuking the Emperor Valens, Subleyras; and the Fall of Simon Magus, Pompeo Battoni;—on the right, the Immaculate Conception, P. Bianchi; and Tabitha raised from the Dead, P. Costanzi.

In the tribune are, on the right, the Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple, Romanelli; and the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian, a grand fresco of Domenichino, painted originally on the walls of St. Peter's, and removed here with great skill by the engineer Zabaglia;—on the left, the Death of Ananias and Sapphira, Pomarancio; and the Baptism of Christ, Maratta.

On the right of the choir is the tomb of Cardinal Antonio Serbelloni; on the left that of Pius IV., Giovanni Angelo Medici (1559-1565), under whose reign the Council of Trent was closed,—uncle of S. Carlo Borromeo, a lively and mundane pope, but the cruel persecutor of the Caraffa nephews of his predecessor, Paul IV., whom he executed in the Castle of S. Angelo.

Of the sixteen columns in this church (45 feet in height, 16 feet in diameter), only the eight in the transept are of ancient Egyptian granite; the rest are in brick, stuccoed in imitation, and were additions of Vanvitelli. On the pavement is a meridian line, laid down in 1703.

"Quand Dioclétien faisait travailler les pauvres chrétiens à ses étuves, ce n'était pas son dessein de bâtir des églises à leurs successeurs; il ne pensait pas être fondateur, comme il l'a été, d'un monastère de Pères Chartreux et d'un monastère de Pères Feuillants.... C'est aux dépens de Dioclétien, de ses pierres et de son ciment qu'on fait des autels et des chapelles à Jesus-Christ, des dortoirs et des réfectoires à ses serviteurs. La providence de Dieu se joue de cette sorte des pensées des hommes, et les événements sont bien éloignés des intentions quand la terre a un dessein et le ciel un autre."—Balzac.

The Carthusian convent behind the church (ladies are not admitted) contains several picturesque fountains. That in the great cloister, built from designs of Michael Angelò, is surrounded by a group of huge and grand cypresses, said to have been planted by his hand.

"Il semble que la vie ne sert ici qu'à contempler la mort—les hommes qui existent ainsi sont pourtant les mêmes à qui la guerre et toute son activité suffirait à peine s'ils y étaient accoutumés. C'est un sujet inépuisable de réflexion que les différentes combinaisons de la destinée humaine sur la terre. Il se passe dans l'intérieur de l'âme mille accidents, il se forme mille habitudes, qui font de chaque individu un monde et son histoire."—Madame de Staël.

On a line with the monastery is a Prison for Women—then an Institution for Deaf, Dumb, and Blind—then the ugly Fountain of the Termini (designed by Fontana), sometimes called Fontanone dell' Acqua Felice, (Felice, from Fra Felice, the name by which Sixtus V. was known before his papacy,) to which the Acqua Felice was brought from Colonna 22 miles distant in the Alban hills, in 1583, by Sixtus V. It is surmounted by a hideous statue of Moses by Prospero Bresciano, who is said to have died of vexation at the ridicule it excited when uncovered. The side statues, of Aaron and Gideon, are by Giov. Batt. della Porta and Flaminio Vacca.

Opposite this, in the Via della Porta Pia, is the Church of Sta. Maria della Vittoria, built in 1605, by Carlo Maderno, for Paul V. Its façade was added from designs of Giov. Batt. Soria, by Cardinal Borghese, in payment to the monks of the adjoining Carmelite convent, for the statue of the Hermaphrodite, which had been found in their vineyard.

The name of the church commemorates an image of the Virgin, burnt in 1833, which was revered as having been instrumental in gaining the victory for the Catholic imperial troops over the Protestant Frederick and Elizabeth of Bohemia, at the battle of the White Mountain, near Prague. The third chapel on the left contains the Trinity, by Guercino; a Crucifixion, by Guido; and a portrait of Cardinal Cornaro, Guido. The altar-piece of the second chapel on the right, representing St. Francis receiving the Infant Christ from the Virgin, is by Domenichino, as are two frescoes on the side walls. In the left transept, above an altar adorned with a gilt bronze-relief of the Last Supper, by Cav. d'Arpino, is a group representing Sta. Teresa transfixed by the dart of the Angel of Death, by Bernini. The following criticisms upon it are fair specimens of the contrast between English and French taste.

"All the Spanish pictures of Sta. Theresa sin in their materialism; but the grossest example—the most offensive—is the marble group of Bernini, in the Santa Maria della Vittoria at Rome. The head of Sta. Theresa is that of a languishing nymph, the angel is a sort of Eros; the whole has been significantly described as 'a parody of Divine love.' The vehicle, white marble,—its place in a Christian church,—enhance all its vileness. The least destructive, the least prudish in matters of art, would here willingly throw the first stone."—Mrs. Jameson's Monastic Orders, p. 421.

"La sainte Thérèse de Bernin est adorable! couchée, évanouie d'amour les mains, les pieds nus pendants, les yeux demiclos, elle s'est laissée tomber de bonheur et d'extase. Son visage est maigri, mais combien noble! C'est la vraie grande dame qui a séché dans les feux, dans les larmes, en attendant celui qu'elle aime. Jusqu'aux draperies tortillées, jusqu'à l'allanguissement des mains défaillantes, jusqu'au soupir qui meurt sur ses levres entr'ouvertes, il n'y a rien en elle ni autour d'elle qui n'exprime l'angoisse volupteuse et le divin élancement de son transport. On ne peut pas rendre avec des mots une attitude si enivrée et si touchante. Renversée sur le dos, elle pâme, tout son être se dissout; le moment poignant arrive, elle gémit; c'est son dernier gémissement, la sensation est trop forte. L'ange cependant, un jeune page de quatorze ans, en légère tunique, la poitrine découverte jusqu'au dessous du sein, arrive gracieux, aimable; c'est le plus joli page de grand seigneur qui vient faire le bonheur d'une vassal trop tendre. Un sourire demi-complaisant, demi-malin, creuse des fossettes dans ses fraîches joues luisantes; sa flêche d'or à la main indique le tressaillement délicieux et terrible dont il va secouer tous les nerfs de ce corps charmant, ardent, qui s'étale devant sa main. On n'a jamais fait ce roman si séduisant et si tendre."—Taine, Voyage en Italie.

Close by is the handsome Church of Sta. Susanna, rebuilt by Carlo Maderno, for Sixtus V., on the site of an oratory founded by Pope Caius (A.D. 283), in the house of his brother Gabinus, who was martyred with his daughter Susanna because she refused to break her vow of virginity by a marriage with Maximianus Galerus, adopted son of the Emperor Diocletian, to whom this family were related. The bodies of these martyrs are said to rest beneath the high altar. The side chapel of St. Laurence was presented by Camilla Peretti, the sister of Sixtus V., together with a dowry of fifty scudi, to be paid every year to the nine best girls in the parish, on the festival of Sta. Susanna. The frescoes of the story of Susanna and the Elders, painted here on the side walls, from the analogy of names, are by Baldassare Croce; those in the tribune are by Cesare Nebbia.

Opposite this, is the Cistercian convent and Church of S. Bernardo, a rotunda of the Baths of Diocletian, turned into a church in 1598, by Caterina Sforza, Contessa di Santa Fiora.

Hence the Via della Porta Pia leads to the Quattro Fontane. On the left is the small Church of S. Caio, which encloses the tomb of that pope, inscribed "Sancti Caii, Papæ, martyris ossa." Further, on the left, is the great recently suppressed convent of the Carmelites, and the Church of Sta. Teresa. The right of the street is bordered by the orange-shaded wall of the Barberini garden.

Between S. Caio and Sta. Teresa, is the Studio of Overbeck, the venerable German devotional painter, who died 1869. His daughter allows visitors to be admitted on Sunday afternoons.

CHAPTER XII.

THE ESQUILINE.

Golden House of Nero—Baths of Titus and Trajan—S. Pietro in Vincoli—Frangipani Tower—House of Lucrezia Borgia—S. Martino al Monte—Sta. Lucia in Selce—Sta. Prassede—Santissimo Redentore—Arch of Gallienus—Trophies of Marius—Sta. Bibiana—Temple of Minerva Medica—S. Eusebio—S. Antonio Abbate—Sta. Maria Maggiore.

THE Esquiline, which is the largest of the so-called 'hills of Rome,' is not a distinct hill, but simply a projection of the Campagna. "The Quirinal, Viminal, Esquiline, and Cœlian stretch out towards the Tiber, like four fingers of a hand, of which the plain whence they detach themselves represents the vast palm. This hand has seized the world."[250]

Varro says that the name Esquiline was derived from the word excultus, because of the ornamental groves which were planted on this hill by Servius Tullius,—such as the Lucus Querquetulanus, Fagutalis, and Esquilinus.[251] The sacred wood of the Argiletum long remained on the lower slope of the hill, where the Via Sta. Maria dei Monti now is.

The Esquiline, which is still unhealthy, must have been so in ancient times, for among its temples were those dedicated to Fever, near Sta. Maria Maggiore—to Juno Mephitis,[252] near a pool which emitted poisonous exhalations—and to Venus Libitina,[253] for the registration of deaths, and arrangement of funerals. As the hill was in the hands of the Sabines, its early divinities were Sabine. Besides those already mentioned, it had an altar of the Sabine sun-god Janus, dedicated together with an altar to Juno by the survivor of the Horatii,[254] and a temple of Juno Lucina, the goddess of birth and light.

"Monte sub Esquilio multis incæduus annis

Junonis magnæ nomine lucus erat."

Ovid, Fast. ii. 435.

This hill has two heights. That which is crowned by Santa Maria Maggiore was formerly called Cispius, where Servius Tullius had a palace; that which is occupied by S. Pietro in Vincoli was formerly called Oppius, where Tarquinius Superbus lived. It was in returning to his palace on the former (and not on the latter height, as generally maintained) that Servius Tullius was murdered.

The most important buildings of the Esquiline, in the later republican and in imperial times, were on the slope of the hill behind the Forum, and near the Coliseum, in the fashionable quarter called Carinæ,—the "rich Carinæ,"

"Passimque armenta videbant

Romanoque Foro et lautis mugire Carinis."

Virgil, Æn. viii. 361.

of which the principal street probably occupied the site of the present Via del Colosseo. At the entrance of this suburb, where the fine mediæval Torre dei Conti now stands, was the house of Spurius Cassius (Consul B.C. 493), which was confiscated and demolished, and the ground ordained to be always kept vacant, because he was suspected of aiming at regal power. Here, however, or very nearly on this site, the Ædes Telluris, or temple of Tellus, was erected c. B.C. 269,[255]—a building of sufficient importance for the senate, summoned by Antony, to assemble in it. The quarter immediately surrounding this temple acquired the name of In Tellure, which is still retained by several of its modern churches.[256] Near this temple—"in tellure," lived Pompey, in a famous though small historical house, which he adorned on the outside with rostra in memory of his naval victories, and which was painted within to look like a forest with trees and birds, much probably as the chambers are painted which were discovered a few years ago in the villa of Livia.[257] Here Julia, the daughter of Julius Cæsar, and wife of Pompey, died. After the death of Pompey this house was bought by the luxurious Antony. The difference between its two masters is pourtrayed by Cicero, who describes the severe comfort of the house of Pompey contrasted with the voluptuous luxury of its second master, and winds up his oration by exclaiming, "I pity even the roofs and the walls under the change." At a later period the same house was the favourite residence of Antoninus Pius. Hard by, in the Carinæ, the favourite residence of Roman knights, lived the father of Cicero, and hence the young Tullius went to listen in the forum to the orators whom he was one day to surpass.[258] Also in the Carinæ, but nearer the site of the Coliseum, was the magnificent house of the wealthy Vedius Pollio, which he bequeathed to Augustus, who pulled it down, and built the portico of Livia on its site:

"Disce tamen, veniens ætas, ubi Livia nunc est

Porticus, immensæ tecta fuisse domûs.

Urbis opus domus una fuit; spatiumque tenebat,

Quo brevius muris oppida multa tenent.

Hæc æquata solo est, nullo sub crimine regni,

Sed quia luxuriâ visa nocere suâ.

Sustinuit tantas operum subvertere moles,

Totque suas heres perdere Cæsar opes."

Ovid, Fast. vi. 639.

At its opposite extremity the Carinæ was united to the unfashionable and plebeian quarter of the Suburra, occupying the valley formed by the convergence of the Esquiline, Quirinal, and Viminal—which is still crowded with a teeming population. In one of the small streets leading from the Vicus Cyprius (between the Esquiline and Viminal) towards the Carinæ, was the Tigellum Sororis, which was extant—repaired at the public expense—till the fifth century. This, "the Sister's Beam," commemorated the well-known story of the last of the Horatii, who, returning from the slaughter of the Curiatii, and being met by his sister, bewailing one of the dead to whom she was betrothed, stabbed her in his anger. He was condemned to death, but at the prayer of his father his crime was expiated by his passing under the yoke of "the Sister's Beam." On one side of the Tigellum Sororis was an altar to Juno Sororis; on the other an altar to Janus Curiatius.[259]

During the empire several poets had their residence on the Esquiline. Virgil lived there, near the gardens of Mæcenas, which covered the slopes between the Esquiline and Viminal. Propertius had a house there, as we learn from himself—

"I, puer, et citus hæc aliqua propone columna

Et dominum Esquiliis scribe habitare tuum."

Propert. Eleg. iv. 23.

It is believed, but without certainty, that Horace also lived upon the Esquiline. He was constantly there in the villa of Mæcenas, where he was buried, and which he has described in his poems both in its original state as a desecrated cemetery, and again after his friend had converted it into a beautiful garden.

"Nunc licet Esquiliis habitare salubribus, atque

Aggere in aprico spatiari, quo modo tristes

Albis informem spectabant ossibus agrum."

Sat. i.

The house of Mæcenas, the great patron of the poets of the Augustan age, probably occupied a site above the Carinæ, where the baths of Titus afterwards were. It was a lofty and magnificent edifice, and is described by Horace, who calls it—

"Fastidiosam desere copiam, et

Molem propinquam nubibus arduis:

Omitte mirari beatæ

Fumum et opes strepitumque Romæ."

Od. iii. 29.

Mæcenas bequeathed his villa to Augustus, and Tiberius at one time resided in it.

Another, though less well-known poet of this age, who lived upon the Esquiline, was Pedo Albinovanus, much extolled by Ovid, who lived at the summit of the Vicus Cyprius (probably the Via Sta. Maria Maggiore), in a little house:

"Illic parva tui domus Pedonis

Cælata est aquilæ minore penna."

Martial, x. Ep. 19.

Near this was the Lacus Orphei, a fountain, in the centre of which was a rock, &c., surmounted by a statue of Orpheus with the enchanted beasts around him. The house of Pedo was afterwards inhabited by Pliny. On Septimius, as the furthest slope of the Esquiline towards the Viminal was called, lived Maximus—of whom Martial says:—

"Esquiliis domus est, domus est tibi colle Dianæ,

Et tua Patricius culmina Vicus habet:

Hinc viduæ Cybeles, illinc sacraria Vestæ,

Inde Novum, Veterem prospicis inde Jovem."

Mart. vii. Ep. 72.

Only the northern side of the Esquiline is now inhabited at all; the southern, and by far the larger portion, is clothed with vineyards and gardens, sprinkled over with titanic masses of ruin. On most parts of the hill, one might imagine oneself far away in the country. According to Niebuhr, the dweller amid the vines of the Esquiline, when he descends into the city, still says, "I am going to Rome."

Nero (A.D. 54—68) purchased the site of the villa of Mæcenas, and covered the whole side of the hill towards the Carinæ with the vast buildings of his Golden House, which also swallowed up the Cœlian and a great part of the Palatine; but he did not destroy the buildings which already existed, and "the Golden House was still the old mansion of Augustus and the villa of Mæcenas connected by a long series of columns and arches."[260] Titus (A.D. 79—81) and Trajan (A.D. 98—117) used part of the same site for their baths, and the ruins of all these buildings are now jumbled up together, and the varying whims of antiquaries have constantly changed the names of each fragment that has been discovered.

The more interesting of these ruins are on the southern slope of the Esquiline towards the Coliseum, and are most easily approached from the Via Polveriera. They are shown now as the Baths of Titus, or Camere Esquiline, and occupy a space of about 1150 feet by 850. That the chambers which are now visible were to be seen in the time of Leo X. (1513—22) we learn from Vasari, who says that Raphael and Giovanni da Udine were wont to study there and copy the arabesques to assist their work in the Vatican Loggie. After this, neglect and the falling in of the soil caused these treasures to be lost till 1774, when they were again partially unearthed, but they were only completely brought to view by the French, who began to take the work in hand in 1811, and continued their excavations for three years.

The principal remains, which are now exhibited by the dim torch of a solitary cicerone, are those of nine chambers, extending for 300 feet, and having on the north a kind of corridor, or cryptoporticus, whose vault is covered with paintings of birds, griffins, and flowers, &c. In two of these halls are alcoves for couches, and in one is a cavity for a fountain with a trench round it, like that in the nymphæum of the Palace of the Cæsars. In one of the halls is a group representing Venus attended by two Cupids, with doves hovering over her. Near this a pedestal is shown as that occupied by the Laocoon, though it was really found in the Vigna de Fredis, between the Sette Sale and Sta. Maria Maggiore. A set of thirty engravings, published by Mirri, from drawings taken in 1776, show what the paintings were at that time, but very few now remain perfect. A group of Coriolanus and his mother, represented in Mirri's work, is now inaccessible. All the paintings are Pompeian in character, and for some time were considered the best remains of ancient pictorial art in Rome, but they are inferior to those which have since been discovered on the Latin way and at the Baths of Livia. The chambers which open beyond the nine outer halls are considered to be part of the Golden House. In one of these the Meleager of the Vatican was found. A small chapel, dedicated to Sta. Felicitas and her seven sons (evidently engrafted upon the pagan building in the sixth century), was discovered in 1813. It is like the chapels in the catacombs, and is decorated with the conventional frescoes of the Good Shepherd, Daniel in the lions' den, &c. There are also some faint remains of a fresco of the sainted patrons.

Behind the convent of S. Pietro in Vincoli, in the open vineyards, are other ruins called the Sette Sale, being remains of the reservoirs (in reality nine in number) for the Baths. In these vineyards also are three large circular ruins, adorned on the interior with rows of niches for statues. One of them is partly built into the Polveriera, or powder magazine. These have been referred alternately to the Baths of Titus and those of Trajan.

Immediately behind the forum of Nerva stands the colossal brick tower, known as the Torre dei Conti, and built by Innocent III. (1198—1216) as a retreat for his family, now extinct. Its architect was Marchione d'Arezzo, and it was so much admired by Petrarch that he declared it had "no equal upon earth;" he must have meant in height. Four of the Conti have mounted the papal throne, Innocent III., Gregory IX., Alexander IV., and Innocent XIII. The last-named pope (1721—24) boasted of having "nine uncles, eight brothers, four nephews, and seven great nephews;" yet—a century after—and not a Conti remained.

If we turn to the left close to this, we shall find, in a commanding position, the famous Church of S. Pietro in Vincoli, said to have been originally founded in A.D. 109 by Theodora, sister of Hermes, Prefect of Rome, both converts of the then pope, who was the martyr St. Alexander of the basilica in the Campagna. A bolder legend attributes the foundation to St. Peter himself, who is believed to have dedicated this church to his Divine Master. History, however, can assign no earlier foundation than that in 442, by the Empress Eudoxia, wife of Valentinian III., from whom the church takes its name of the Eudoxican Basilica, and who placed there one of the famous chains which now form its great attraction to Roman Catholic pilgrims.

"The chains, left in the Mamertine Prisons after St. Peter's confinement there, are said to have been found by the martyr Sta. Balbina, in 126, and by her given to Theodora, another sainted martyr, sister to Hermes, Prefect of Rome, from whom they passed into the hands of St. Alexander, first pope of that name, and were finally deposited by him in the church erected by Theodora, where they have since remained. Such is the legendary, but the historic origin of this basilica cannot be traced higher than about the middle of the fifth century, subsequent to the year 439, when Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem, presented to the Empress Eudoxia, wife of Theodosius the younger, two chains, believed to be those of St. Peter, one of which was placed by her in the basilica of the apostles at Constantinople, and the other sent to Rome for her daughter Eudoxia, wife of Valentinian III., who caused this church, hence called Eudoxian, to be erected, as the special shrine of Peter's chains."—Hemans.

One chain had been sent to Rome by Eudoxia the elder, and the other remained at Constantinople, but the Romans could not rest satisfied with the possession of half the relic; and within the walls of this very basilica, Leo I. beheld in a vision the miraculous and mystical uniting of the two chains, since which they have both been exhibited here, and the day of their being soldered together by invisible power, August 1, has been kept sacred in the Latin Church!

The church is at present entered by an ugly atrium, which was the work of Fontana in 1705; but Bacio Pintelli had already done almost all that was possible to destroy the features of the old basilica, under the Cardinal Titular of the church, Giulio della Rovere, the same who, as Pope Julius II., destroyed the old St Peter's and eighty-seven tombs of his predecessors. By Pintelli the present capitals were added to the columns in the nave, and the horizontal architrave above them was exchanged for a series of narrow round-headed arches.

But, in spite of alterations, the interior is still imposing. Two long lines of ancient fluted Doric columns (ten on each side), relics of the Baths of Titus or Trajan, which once covered this site, lead the eye to the high altar, supposed to cover the remains of the seven Maccabean brothers, and to the tribune, which contains an ancient episcopal throne, and is adorned with frescoes by Jacopo Coppi, a Florentine of the sixteenth century, illustrative of the life of St. Peter. Beneath these is the tomb of G. Clovis, a miniature painter of the sixteenth century, and canon of this church.

On the left of the entrance is the tomb of Antonio Pollajuolo, the famous worker in bronze, and his brother Pietro. The fresco above, which is ascribed to Pollajuolo, refers to the translation of the body of St. Sebastian, as "Depulsor Pestilitatis," from the catacombs to this church,—one of the most picturesque stories of the middle ages. The great plague of A.D. 680 was ushered in by an awful vision of the two angels of good and evil, who wandered through the streets by night, side by side, when the one smote upon the door where death was to enter, unless arrested by the other. The people continued to die by hundreds daily. At length a citizen dreamt that the sickness would cease when the body of St. Sebastian should be brought into the city, and when this was done, the pestilence was stayed. In the fresco the whole story is told. In the background the citizen tells his dream to Pope Agatho, who is seated among his cardinals. On the right the angels of good and evil (the bad angel represented as a devil) are making their mysterious visitation, on the left a procession is bringing in the relics, and the foreground is strewn with the corpses of the dead. The general invocation of St. Sebastian in Italy, and the frequent introduction of his figure in art, have their origin in this story.

At the entrance of the left aisle is a fine bas-relief of St. Peter throned, delivering his keys to an angel, who acknowledges his supremacy by receiving them on his knees. This work was executed in 1465, and serves as a monument to the Cardinal de Cusa, Bishop of Brixen, whose incised gravestone lies beneath.

Over the second altar is a most interesting mosaic of 680, representing, in old age, the St. Sebastian whom we are accustomed to see as a beautiful youth, wounded with arrows,—which he survived:—

"A single figure in mosaic exists as an altar-piece in S. Pietro in Vincoli. It is intended for St. Sebastian, who was removed to the church by Pope Agathon, on occasion of the plague in 680, and doubtless executed soon after this date. As a specimen of its kind it is very remarkable. There is no analogy between this figure and the usual youthful type of St. Sebastian which was subsequently adopted. On the contrary, the saint is represented here as an old man with white hair and beard, carrying the crown of martyrdom in his hand, and dressed from head to foot in true Byzantine style. In his countenance there is still some life and dignity. The more careful shadowing also of the drapery shows that, in a work intended to be so much exposed to the gaze of the pious, more pains were bestowed than usual; nevertheless, the figure, upon the whole, is very inanimate; the ground is blue."—Kugler.

The first altar in the right aisle has a picture of St. Augustine by Guercino; then come tombs of Cardinals Margotti and Agucci, from designs of Domenichino, who has introduced a portrait of the former in his monument. At the end of this aisle is the beautiful picture of St. Margaret and the Dragon by Guercino; the saint is inspired, and displaying no sign of fear,—an earthly impulse only appearing in the motion of her hand, which seems pushing back the dragon.

"St. Margaret was daughter of a priest of Antioch named Theodosius, and was brought up as a Christian by her nurse, whose sheep she watched upon the hills, while meditating upon the mysteries of the gospel. The governor of Antioch fell in love with her and wished to marry her, but she refused, and declared herself a Christian. Her friends thereupon deserted her, and the governor tried to subdue her by submitting her to horrible tortures, amid which her faith did not fail. She was then dragged to a dungeon, where Satan, in the form of a terrible dragon, came upon her with his inflamed and hideous mouth wide open, and sought to terrify and confound her; but she held up the cross of the Redeemer, and he fled before it. She finally suffered death by decapitation. Her legend was certainly known in the fifth century: in the fourteenth century she was one of the favourite saints, and was specially invoked by women against the pains of child-birth.

"'Mild Margarete, that was God's maide;

Maid Margarete, that was so meeke and milde.'"

See Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art, v. I.

Here is the glory of the church—the famous Moses of Michael Angelo, forming part of the decorations of the unfinished monument of Julius II.

"This pope, whom nature had intended for a conqueror, and destiny clothed with the robe of a priest, takes his place by the side of the great warriors of the sixteenth century, by the side of Charles V., of Francis I., of Gonsalvo, of Cortes, of Alba, of Bayard, and of Doria. It is difficult to imagine Julius II. murmuring prayers, or saying mass in pontifical robes, and performing, in the midst of all those unmanly functions and thousand passive forms, the spirit-deadening part which is assigned to the popes, while his soul was on fire with great-hearted designs, and while in the music of the psalms he seemed to hear the thunder of cannon. He wished to be a prince of the Church; and with the political instinct of a prince he founded his state in the midst of the most difficult wars against France, and unhesitatingly conquered and took possession of Bologna, Piacenza, Parma, Reggio, and Urbino....

The greatest pope since Innocent III., and the creator of a new political spirit in the papacy, he wished, as a second Augustus, to glorify himself and his creation. He took up again the projects of Nicholas V. Rome should become his monument. To carry out his designs he found the genius of Bramante and Raphael, and, above all, that of Michael Angelo, who belonged to him like an organ of his being. St. Peter's, of which he laid the foundation-stone, the paintings of the Sistine, the loggie of Bramante, the stanze of Raphael, are memorials of Julius the Second."—Gregorovius, Grabmaler der Papste.

Most of all Julius II. sought immortality in his tomb, for which the original design was absolutely gigantic. Eighteen feet high, and twelve wide, it was intended to contain more than forty statues, which were to include Moses, St. Peter and St. Paul, Rachel and Leah, and chained figures of the Provinces, while those of the Heaven and the Earth were to support the sarcophagus of the pope. This project was cut short by the death of Julius in 1513, when only four of the statues were finished, and eight designed.[261] Of those which were finished, three statues, the Moses, the Rachel, and the Leah, were afterwards used for the existing memorial, which was put together under Paul III. by the Duke of Urbino, heir of Julius II.—in this church of which his uncle had been a cardinal.

"The eye does not know where to rest in this the masterpiece of sculpture since the time of the Greeks. It seems to be as much an incarnation of the genius of Michael Angelo, as a suitable allegory of Pope Julius. Like Moses, he was at once lawgiver, priest, and warrior. The figure is seated in the central niche, with long-flowing beard descending to the waist, with horned head, and deep-sunk eyes, which blaze, as it were, with the light of the burning bush, with a majesty of anger which makes one tremble, as of a passionate being, drunken with fire. All that is positive and all that is negative in him is equally dreadful. If he were to rise up, it seems as if he would shout forth laws which no human intellect could fathom, and which, instead of improving the world, would drive it back into chaos. His voice, like that of the gods of Homer, would thunder forth in tones too awful for the ear of man to support. Yes! there is something infinite which lies in the Moses of Michael Angelo. Nor is his countenance softened by the twilight of sadness, which is stealing from his forehead over his eyes. It is the same deep sadness which clouded the countenance of Michael Angelo himself. But here it is less touching than terrible. The Greeks could not have endured a glance from such a Moses, and the artist would certainly have been blamed, because he had thrown no softening touch over his gigantic picture. That which we have is the archetype of a terrible and quite unapproachable sublimity. This statue might take its place in the cell of a colossal temple, as that of Jupiter Ammon, but the tomb where it is placed is so little suited to it, that regarded even only as its frame it is too small."—Gregorovius.

On either side of the principal figure are niches containing Michael Angelo's statues of Rachel and Leah,—emblematic of active and contemplative life. Those above, of the Prophet and the Sibyl, are by Raphael da Montelupo, his best pupil; on the summit is the Madonna with the Infant Jesus by Scherano da Settignano. The worst figure of the whole is that, by Maso dal Bosco, of the pope himself, who seems quite overwhelmed by the grandeur of his companions, and who lies upon a pitiful sarcophagus, leaning his head upon his hand, and looking down upon the Moses. He is represented with the beard which he was the first pope to reintroduce after an interval of many centuries,—and it is said to have been from his example that Francis I., Charles V., and others, adopted it also.

After all, Julius II. was not buried here, and the tomb is merely commemorative. He rests beneath a plain marble slab near his uncle Sixtus IV., in the chapel of the Sacrament at St. Peter's.

Close to the Moses is the entrance to the chapel in which the chains are preserved, behind a bronze screen—the work of Pollajuolo. They are of unequal size, owing to many fragments of one of them (first whole links, then only filings) having been removed in the course of centuries by various popes and sent to Christian princes who have been esteemed worthy of the favour![262] The longest is about five feet in length. At the end of one of them is a collar, which is said to have encircled the neck of St. Peter. They are exposed on the day of the "station" (the first Monday in Lent) in a reliquary presented by Pius IX., adorned with statuettes of St. Peter and the angel—to whom he is represented as saying, "Ecce nunc scio vere."[263] On the following day a priest gives the chains to be kissed by the pilgrims, and touches their foreheads with them, saying, "By the intercession of the blessed Apostle Peter, may God preserve you from evil. Amen."

"Peter, therefore, was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison. And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands."—Acts xii. 5—7.

Other relics preserved here are portions of the crosses of St. Peter and St. Andrew, and the body of Sta. Costanza.

The sacristy, opening out of this chapel, contains a number of pictures, including, very appropriately, the Deliverance of St. Peter from Prison, by Domenichino. Here, till a few years ago, was preserved the famous and beautiful small picture, known as the Speranza of Guido. It has lately been sold by the monks to an Englishman, and is replaced by a copy.

In this church Hildebrand was crowned pope as Gregory VII. (1073). Stephen IX. was also proclaimed here in 939. The adjoining convent was built from designs of Giuliano San Gallo. Its courtyard contains a picturesque well (with columns), bearing the arms of Julius II., by Simone Mosca. The arcades were decorated in the present century with frescoes by Pietra Camosci, as a votive offering for his recovery from cholera, to St. Sebastian, "depulsori pestilitatis."

Opposite S. Pietro in Vincoli is a convent of Maronite monks, in whose garden is a tall palm-tree, perhaps the finest in Rome. In the view from the portico of the church it forms a conspicuous feature, and the combination of the old tower, the palm-tree, and the distant capitol, standing out against the golden sky of sunset, is one very familiar to Roman artists.

The tall machicolated Tower on the right was once a fortress of the Frangipani family, who obtained their glorious surname of "bread-breakers" from the generosity which they showed in the distribution of food to the poor during a famine in the thirteenth century. The tower is now used as a belfry to the adjoining Church of S. Francesco di Paola, being the only mediæval fortress tower applied to this purpose. The adjoining building is known as the House of Lucrezia Borgia, and the balcony over the gateway on the other side is pointed out as that in which she used to stand meditating on her crimes. Here Cæsar Borgia and his unhappy brother, the Duke of Gandia, supped with Lucrezia and their mother Vanozza, the evening before the murder of the duke, of which Cæsar was accused by popular belief. It is worth while to descend under the low-browed arch from the church piazza, and look back upon this lofty house, with its steep, dark, winding staircase,—a most picturesque bit of street architecture, which looks better the further you descend. The Via S. Francesco di Paola is considered by Ampère[264] to have been the place where the house of the Horatii and the Tigellum Sororis once stood.

Following the narrow lane behind S. Pietro, we reach, on the left, S. Martino al Monte, the great church of the Carmelites, which, though of uninviting exterior, is of the highest interest. It was built in A.D. 500 by S. Symmachus, and dedicated to the saints Sylvestro and Martino, on the site of an older church founded by St. Sylvester in the time of Constantine. After repeated alterations, it was modernised in 1650 by P. Filippini, General of the Carmelites. The nave is separated from the aisles by twenty-four ancient Corinthian columns. The aisles are painted with landscapes by Gaspar Poussin, having figures introduced by his brother Nicholas. The roof is an addition by S. Carlo Borromeo.

The pillars of different marbles are magnificent, and the effect of the raised choir, with winding staircases to the crypt below, is highly picturesque. On the walls are frescoes by Cavaluccio (ob. 1795), who is buried in the left aisle. The collection of incised gravestones deserves attention, they comprise those of a knight in mail armour of 1349; Cardinal Diomede Caraffa, with a curious epitaph; and various generals and remarkable monks of the Carmelite Order. Beneath the high altar rest the bodies of Popes Sergius, Sylvester, Martin I., Fabian, Stephen I., Soter, Ciriacus, Anastasius, and Innocent I., with several saints not papal, removed hither from the catacombs. In the curious crypt, part of the Baths of Titus, the early Council of Sylvester and Constantine was held, as represented in the fresco in the left aisle of the upper church. The back of the ancient chair of Sylvester still remains, green with age and damp. In the chapel on the left, where St. Sylvester used to celebrate mass, is an ancient mosaic of the Madonna. In front of the papal chair is the grand sepulchral figure of a Carmelite, who was General of the Order in the time of Sta. Teresa. An urn contains the intestines of the "Beato," Cardinal Giuseppe-Maria de Tommasis, who died in 1713. His body is preserved beneath an altar in the left aisle of the upper church, and is dressed in his cardinal's robes.

"In 1650 was reopened, beneath SS. Martino e Sylvestro, the long-forgotten oratory formed (according to Anastasius) by Sylvester among the halls of Trajan's Thermæ—or, more probably, in an antique palace adjacent to those imperial baths—and called by Christian writers 'Titulus Equitii,' from the name of a Roman priest then proprietor of the ground. Now a gloomy, time-worn, and sepulchral subterranean, this structure is in form an extensive quadrangle, under a high-hung vault, divided into four aisles by massive square piers; the central bay of one aisle adorned with a large red cross, painted as if studded with gems; and ranged round this, four books, each within a nimbus, earliest symbolism to represent the Evangelists. Among the much-faded and dim-seen frescoes on these dusky walls, are figures of the Saviour between SS. Peter and Paul, besides other saints, each crowned by a large nimbus."—Hemans' Ancient Sacred Art.

Here is preserved a mitre, probably the most ancient extant, and said to be that of St. Sylvester, who lived in the fourth century, and who was the first Latin bishop to wear the mitre originally worn by the priests of pagan temples. This ancient mitre is so low as to rise only just above the crown of the head.

This church was dedicated to St. Martin, the holy Bishop of Tours, within a hundred years after his death, showing the very early veneration with which that saint was regarded.

Leaving S. Martino by the other door, near the tribune, we emerge at the top of the steep street called Sta. Lucia in Selci, which is the same with that described by Martial in going to visit the younger Pliny as—

"Altum vincere tramitem Suburræ." Lib. x. Ep. 19, 5.

And again—

"Alto Suburrani vincenda est semita clivi." Lib. v. Ep. 23, 5.

Here is a whole group of convents. In the hollow is the convent of S. Francesco di Paola, with several others. Just above (in the Via Quattro Cantone) is the convent of the Oratorians, or S. Filippo Neri. At this point also are two mediæval towers, one enclosed within the convent walls of Sta. Lucia in Selci, the other on the opposite side of the street, supposed by some to be the tower of Mecænas, celebrated by Horace. On the left of the street is the house of Domenichino (Domenico Zampieri), whose residence here is commemorated by an inscription.

Mounting the street we soon reach, on the right, the picturesque tenth century west gate (a high narrow arch upon Ionic columns, modernized and plastered over under the Sardinian government) of the Church of Sta. Prassede, which leads into the atrium of the church. This is seldom open, but we can enter by a door in the north aisle.

Sta. Prassede was sister of Sta. Pudenziana, and daughter of Pudens and his wife Claudia, with whom St. Paul lodged, and who were among his first converts (see Ch. X., Sta. Pudenziana). She gave shelter in her house to a number of persecuted Christians, twenty-three of whom were discovered and martyred in her presence. She then buried their bodies in the catacombs of her grandmother, Sta. Priscilla, but, collecting their blood in a sponge, placed it in a well in her own house, where she was afterwards buried herself. An oratory is said to have been erected on the site by Pius I., A.D. 160, and was certainly in existence in A.D. 499, when it is mentioned in the acts of a Council. In A.D. 822 the original church was destroyed, and the present church erected by Pascal I., of whose time are the low tower, the porch, the terra-cotta cornices, and the mosaics. During the absence of the popes at Avignon, Sta. Prassede was one of the many churches which fell almost into ruin, and it has since suffered terribly from injudicious modernisations, first in the fifteenth century from Rosellini, under Nicholas V., and afterwards under S. Carlo Borromeo in 1564.

The interior is a basilica, the nave being separated from the aisles by sixteen granite columns, many of which have been boxed up in hideous stucco pilasters, decorated with frescoes of apostles; but their Corinthian capitals are visible, carved with figures of birds (the eagle, cock, and dove) in strong relief against the acanthus leaves. The nave is divided into four compartments by arches rising from the square pilasters; the roof is coffered.

In the right aisle is the entrance to the famous chapel, called, from its unusual and mysterious splendour, the Orto del Paradiso—originally dedicated to S. Zeno, then to the Virgin, with the invocation "Libera nos a pœnis inferi," and finally to the great relic which it contains. Females are never allowed to enter this shrine except upon Sundays in Lent, but can see the relic through a grating. Males are admitted by the door which is flanked by two columns of rare black and white marble, supporting a richly-sculptured marble cornice, above which are two lines of mosaic heads in circlets—in the outer, the Saviour and the twelve apostles; in the inner, the Virgin between St. Stephen and St. Laurence, with eight female saints; at the angles St. Pudens and St. Pastor. In the interior of the chapel four granite columns support a lofty groined vault, which, together with the upper part of the walls, is entirely covered with mosaic figures, which stand out distinctly from a gold ground.

"Here are SS. Peter and Paul before a throne, on which is the cross, but no seated figure; the former apostle holding a single gold key,[265] the latter a scroll; St. John the Evangelist, with a richly-bound volume; SS. James and Andrew, the two daughters of Pudens, and St. Agnes, all in rich vestments, and holding crowns; the Virgin Mary (a veiled matronly figure), and St. John the Baptist standing beside her; under the arch of a window, another half-figure of Mary, with three other females, all having the nimbus, one crowned, one with a square halo to indicate a person still living; above these, the Divine Lamb on a hill, from which the four rivers issue, with stags drinking of their waters; above the altar, the Saviour, between four other saints,—figures in part barbarously sacrificed to a modern tabernacle that conceals them. On the vault a colossal half-figure of the Saviour, youthful but severe in aspect, with cruciform nimbus, appears in a large circular halo supported by four archangels, solemn forms in long white vestments, that stand finely distinct in the dim light. Within a niche over the altar is another mosaic of the Virgin and Child, with the two daughters of Pudens, in which Rumohr (Italienische Forsch.) observes ruder execution, indicating origin later than the ninth century."—Hemans' Ancient Christian Art.

The relic preserved here (one of the principal objects of pilgrimage in Rome) is the column to which our Saviour is reputed to have been bound, said to have been given by the Saracens to Giovanni Colonna, cardinal of this church, and legate of the crusade, because, when he had fallen into their hands and was about to be put to death, he was rescued by a marvellous intervention of celestial light. Its being of the rarest blood jasper is a reason against its authenticity; the peculiarity of its formation having even given rise to the mineralogical term, "Granito della Colonna." A disk of porphyry in the pavement marks the grave of forty martyrs collected by Paschal I. The mother of that pope is also buried here, and the inscription commemorating her observes an ancient ecclesiastical usage in allowing her the title of "episcopa:" "Ubi utique benignissimæ suæ genitricis, scilicet Dominæ Theodoræ, Episcopæ corpus quiescit." In this chapel Paschal I. saw the spirit of his nephew dragged to heaven by an angel, through the little window, while he was saying a mass for his soul.

The high altar covers the entrance to a small crypt, in which are two ancient sarcophagi, containing the remains of the sainted sisters Prassede and Pudenziana. An altar here, richly decorated with mosaic, is shown as that which existed in the house of Prassede. Above is a fresco, referred to the twelfth century, representing the Madonna between the sainted sisters. At the end of the left aisle is a large slab of granite (nero-bianco), upon which Sta. Prassede is said to have slept, and above it a picture of her asleep. In the centre of the nave is the well where she collected the blood, with a hideous statue of her squeezing it out of a sponge.

The chapel at the end of the left aisle is that of S. Carlo Borromeo, who was cardinal of this church, and contains his episcopal throne (a wooden chair) and a table, at which, like St. Gregory, he used to feed and wait upon twelve poor men daily. The pictures in this chapel, by Louis Stern, represent S. Carlo in prayer, and in ecstasy before the Sacrament. In the cloister is an old orange-tree which was planted by him, but is still flourishing.

Opposite the side entrance of the Orto del Paradiso is the tomb of Cardinal Cetive (1474), with his sleeping figure and statuettes of SS. Peter and Paul, Sta. Prassede, and Sta. Pudenziana. This will recall Browning's quaint forcible poem of 'The Bishop who orders his tomb at Saint Praxed's church.'

"Saint Praxed's ever was the church for peace.

. . . . . . . . . . .

And there how I shall lie through centuries,

And hear the blessed mutter of the mass,

And see God made and eaten all day long,

And feel the steady candle flame, and taste

Good strong thick stupefying incense-smoke!"

Other tombs of interest are those of Cardinal Ancherus, assassinated in 1286 outside the Porta S. Giovanni, and of Monsignor Santoni, a bust, said to have been executed by Bernini when only ten years old.

Two pictures in side chapels are interesting in a Vallombrosan church, as connected with saints of that order,—one representing S. Pietro Aldobrandini passing through the furnace at Settimo; and another the martyrdom of Cardinal Beccaria, put to death at Florence (whither he was sent by Alexander IV. to make peace between the Guelfs and Ghibellines)—and consigned to hell by Dante.

——"Quel di Beccaria

Di cui segò Fiorenza la gorgiera."

Inferno, xxxii.

Steps of magnificent rosso-antico lead to the tribune, which is covered with mosaics of A.D. 817-824. Those on the arch represent the heavenly Jerusalem; within is the Saviour with a cruciform halo—the hand of the first person of the Trinity holding a crown over his head—and St. Peter and St. Paul bringing in the sainted sisters of the church; on the right, Pope Paschal I.,[266] with a model of his church; on the left, St. Zeno (?). Above these figures, is the Adoration of the spotless Lamb, and beneath their feet the Jordan; below all is the Lamb again, with the twelve sheep issuing from the mystic cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and verses recording the work of Paschal I.

"The arrangement of saints at Sta. Prassede (817) is altogether different from that at Ravenna, but equally striking. Over the grand arch which separates the choir from the nave is a mosaic, representing the New Jerusalem, as described in the Revelations. It is a walled enclosure, with a gate at each end, guarded by angels. Within is seen the Saviour of the World, holding in his hand the orb of sovereignty, and a company of blessed seated on thrones: outside, the noble army of martyrs is seen approaching, conducted and received by angels. They are all arrayed in white, and carry crowns in their hands. Lower down, on each side, a host of martyrs press forward with palms and crowns, to do homage to the Lamb, throned in the midst. None of the martyrs are distinguished by name, except those to whom the church is dedicated—Sta. Prassede and her sister Pudenziana."—Mrs. Jameson.

While Pope Gelasius II. was celebrating mass in this church, he was attacked by armed bands of the inimical houses of Leone and Frangipani, and was only rescued by the assistance of his nephew Gaetano, after a conflict of some hours. Hence in 1630, Moriandi, abbot of Sta. Prassede, was suddenly carried off and put to fearful tortures, which resulted in his death, ostensibly on account of irregularities in his convent, but really because he had been heard to speak against Urban VIII.[267]

In the sacristy is preserved a fine picture by Giulio Romano of the Flagellation—especially appropriate in the church of the Colonna.

Hence the curious campanile of the old church (built 1110) may be entered, and a loggia whence the great relics of the church are exhibited at Easter, including: portions of the crown of thorns, of the sponge, of the Virgin's hair, and a miniature portrait of our Saviour which is said to have belonged to St. Peter and to have been left by him with the daughters of Pudens.

The Monastery attached to the church, founded by Paschal I., was first occupied by Basilian, but since 1198 has belonged to Vallombrosan monks. Nothing remains of the mosaic-covered chapel of St. Agnes, built by the founder within its walls.

Where the Via Sta. Prassede crosses the road leading from Sta. Maria Maggiore to the Lateran, is the modern gothic church of Il Santissimo Redentore, built by Father Douglas within the last few years.

A little beyond this, attached to the Church of S. Vito, from which it has sometimes been named, is the Arch of Gallienus (supposed to occupy the site of the Esquiline gate in the wall of Servius), dedicated to Gallienus (A.D. 253—260) and his Empress Salonina, by Marcus Aurelius Victor, evidently a court-flatterer of the period, who was prefect of Rome, and possessed gardens on this spot. It is of very inferior execution; the original plan had three arches; only that in the centre remains, but traces of another may be seen on the side next the church. Gallienus was a cruel and self-indulgent emperor, who excited the indignation of the Romans by leaving his old father, Valerian, to die a captive in the hands of the Persians, so that the inscription, "Clementissimo principi cuius invicta virtus sola pietate superata est," is singularly false, even for the time.

"Il arrivait à Gallien de faire tuer trois ou quatre mille soldats en un jour, et il écrivait des lettres comme celle-ci, adressée à un de ses généraux: 'Tu n'auras pas fait assez pour moi, si tu ne mets à mort que des hommes armés, car le sort de la guerre aurait pu les faire périr. Il faut tuer quiconque a eu une intention mauvaise, quiconque a mal parlé de moi. Déchire, tue, extermine: lacera, occide, concide.' Entré dans Byzance en promettant leur pardon aux troupes qui avaient combattu contre lui, il les fit égorger, et les soldats ravagèrent la ville au point qu'il n'y resta pas un habitant. Voilà pour la clémence. Tandis que Valérien, son père, était prisonnier du roi des Perses Sapor, qui pour monter à cheval se servait du dos du vieil empereur comme d'un marchepied, en attendant qu'il le fit empailler, l'indigne fils de Valérien vivait au sein des plus honteuses voluptés, et ne tentait pas un seul effort pour le délivrer. Voilà pour la vaillance et la piété."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 334.

Close to this Gallienus had ordered a statue of himself to be erected, which was to be double the height of the colossus of Nero, but it was unfinished at the time of his death, and destroyed by his successor. From the centre of the arch hung, from the thirteenth century, the chain and keys of the gates of Viterbo, removed at the same time as the great bell of the Capitol. These interesting memorials of middle-age warfare were taken down in 1825.

Passing under the arch we enter upon the Via Maggiore, the main artery leading to Santa Croce. On the left is the humble convent of the Monache Polacche, where the long-suffering Madre Makrena, the sole survivor of the terrible persecution of the nuns of Minsk, has lived in the closest retirement since her escape in 1845.

The story of the cruel sufferings of the Polish-Basilian nuns of Minsk reminds one of the worst persecutions of the early Christians, under Nero and Diocletian. Makrena Miaczylslawska was abbess of a convent of thirty-eight nuns, whom the apostate bishop Siemasko first tried to compel to the Greek faith in the summer of 1838. Their refusal led to their being driven, laden with chains, to Witepsk, in Siberia, where they were forced to hard labour, many of them being beaten to death, one roasted alive in a hot stove, and another having her brains beaten out with a stake by the abbess of the Czernice (apostate nuns), on their persisting in their refusal to change their religion. In 1840 the surviving nuns were removed to Polock, where they were forced to work at building a palace for the bishop Siemasko, and where nine of them perished by a falling scaffold, and many others expired under the heavy weights they were compelled to carry, or under the lash. In 1842 their tortures were increased tenfold, eight of the sisters having their eyes torn out, and others being trodden to death. In 1843 those who still survived were removed to Miadzioly, where the "protopope Skrykin" said that he would "drown them like puppies," and where they were dragged by boats through the shallows of the half-frozen Dwina, up to their necks in water, till many died of the cold. In the spring of 1845, Makrena, with the only three nuns who survived with the use of their limbs (Eusebia Wawrzecka, Clotilda Konarska, and Irene Pomarnacka,) scaled the walls of their prison, while the priests and nuns who guarded them were lying drunk after an orgie, and, after wandering for three months in the forests of Lithuania, made good their escape. The nuns remained in Vienna; the abbess, after a series of extraordinary adventures, arrived in Rome, where she was at first lodged in the convent of the Trinità de' Monti. The story of the nuns of Minsk was taken down from her dictation at the same time by a number of eminent ecclesiastics, authorized by the pope, and the authenticity of her statements verified; after which she retired into complete seclusion in the Polish convent on the Esquiline, where she has long filled the humble office of portress. Her legs are eaten into the bone by the chains she wore in her prison life. The story of the persecution at Minsk may be read in "Le Récit de Makrena Miaczylslawska," published at Paris, by Lecoffre, in 1846; in a paper by Charles Dickens, in the "Household Words," for May, 1854; and in "Pictures of Christian Heroism," 1855.

Nearly opposite this convent is the picturesque ruin of a nymphæum, probably of the time of Septimius Severus, erroneously called The Trophies of Marius, from the trophies, now on the terrace in front of the Capitol, which were found here.

Beyond this, on the right, is the entrance of the Villa Palombara, occupying a great part of the site of the Baths of Titus.

"This villa once belonged to Queen Christina of Sweden, who has left upon the little doorway exactly opposite the ruin called the Trophies of Marius, a curious record of her credulity. It consists of a collection of unintelligible words, signs, and triangles, given her by some alchymist, as the rule to make gold, and which, no doubt, he had found successful, having obtained from her, and probably from many other votaries, abundance of that precious metal in exchange for it. But as she could make nothing of it, she caused it to be inscribed here, in case any passenger, wiser than herself, should be able to develope the mystic signs of this golden secret."—Eaton's Rome.

Though the existing ruin is misnamed, the trophies erected in honour of the victories which Marius gained over the Cimbri were really set up near this; and, curiously enough, on this site also Marius was defeated at the "Forum Esquilinum" by Sylla, who suddenly descended upon Rome from Nola with six legions, and entering by the Porta Esquilina, met his adversary here, and forced him to fly to Ostia.

Behind the Trophies of Marius a lane branches off on the left to the desolate Church of Sta. Bibiana.

In the time of Julian the Apostate, there dwelt in Rome a Christian unity, consisting of Flavian, his wife Dalfrosa, and his two daughters, Bibiana and Demetria. All these died for their faith. Flavian was exiled, and died of starvation; Dalfrosa was beheaded; the sisters were imprisoned (A.D. 362) and scourged, and Demetria died at once under the torture. Bibiana glorified God by longer sufferings. Apronius, the prefect of the city, astonished by her beauty, conceived a guilty passion for her, and placed her under the care of one of his creatures named Rufina, who was gradually to bend her to his will. But Bibiana repelled his proposals with horror, and her firmness excited him to such fury, that he commanded her to be bound to a column, and scourged to compliance. "The order was executed with all imaginable cruelty, rivers of blood flowed from each wound, and morsels of flesh were torn away, till even the most barbarous spectators were stricken with horror. The saint alone continued immoveable, with her eyes fixed upon heaven, and her countenance radiant with celestial peace,—until her body being torn to pieces, her soul escaped to her heavenly bridegroom, to receive the double crown of virginity and martyrdom."[268]

After the death of Bibiana, her body was exposed to dogs for three days in the Forum Boarium, but remained unmolested; after which it was stolen at night by John the priest, who buried it here.

The church, founded in the fifth century by Olympia, a Roman matron, was modernised by Bernini for Urban VIII., and has no external appearance of antiquity. The interior is adorned with frescoes; those on the right are by Agostino Ciampelli, those on the left are considered by Lanzi as the best works of Pietro da Cortona. They pourtray in detail the story of the saint:—

1. Bibiana refuses to sacrifice to idols.

2. The death of Demetria.

3. Bibiana is scourged at the column.

4. The body of Bibiana is watched over by a dog.

5. Olympia founds the church, which is dedicated by Pope Simplicius.

The statue of the saint at the high altar is considered the masterpiece of Bernini. It is dignified and graceful, and would hardly be recognised as his work.

"This statue is one of his earliest works; and it is said that when Bernini, in advanced life, returned from France, he uttered, on seeing it, an involuntary expression of admiration. 'But,' added he, 'had I always worked in this style, I should have been a beggar.' This would lead us to conclude, that his own taste led him to prefer simplicity and truth, but that he was obliged to conform to the corrupted predilection of the age."—Eaton's Rome.

The remains of the saint are preserved beneath the altar, in a splendid sarcophagus of oriental alabaster, adorned with a leopard's head. A column of rosso-antico is shown as that to which Sta. Bibiana was bound during her flagellation. The fête of the martyred sisters is observed with great solemnity on December 2.

"Il est touchant de voir, le jour de la fête, le Chapitre entier de la grande et somptueuse basilique de Sainte-Marie-Majeure venir processionellement à cette modeste église et célébrer de solennelles et pompeuses cérémonies en l'honneur de ces deux vierges et leur mère: C'est que si ces trois femmes étaient faibles et ignorées selon le monde, elles sont devenues par leur foi, fortes et sublimes; et l'Église ne croit pouvoir trop faire pour glorifier une pareille grandeur."—Impressions d'une Catholique à Rome.

On or near this site were the Horti Lamiani, in which the Emperor Caligula was hastily buried after his assassination, A.D. 41, though his remains were shortly afterwards disinterred by his sisters and burnt. These gardens were probably the property of Ælius Lamia, to whom Horace addressed one of his odes.[269] At an earlier period Elius Tubero lived here, celebrated for his virtue, his poverty, and his little house, where sixteen members of the Elian Gens dwelt harmoniously together.[270] He married the daughter of L. Emilius Paulus, "who," says Plutarch, "though the daughter of one who had twice been consul and twice triumphed, did not blush for the poverty of her husband, but admired the virtue which had made him poor."

On the other side of the Trophies of Marius, the Via Porta Maggiore leads to the gate of that name (see Ch. XIII.). Approached by a gate on the left of this road, most desolate, until the making of the railway amid its vineyards and gardens, and crowned with lentiscus and other shrubs, is the picturesque ruin generally called the Temple of Minerva Medica, from a false impression that the Giustiniani Minerva, now in the Vatican, had been found here.[271] It is now generally decided to be a remnant of the bath built by Augustus in honour of his grandsons Caius and Lucius Cæsar (sons of Agrippa and Julia). It is a decagon, with a vaulted brick roof, and nine niches for statues; those of Æsculapius, Antinous, Hercules, Adonis, Pomona, and (the Farnese) Faun, have been found on the site.

Near this is a curious Columbarium of the Arruntia Family, and a brick-lined hollow, supposed to be part of the Naumachia which Dion Cassius says that Augustus constructed "in the grove of Caius and Lucius."

Just where the lane turns off to Sta. Bibiana is the entrance to the courtyard of the Church and Monastery of S. Eusebio, built upon the site of the house of the saint, a priest of noble family, martyred by starvation under Constantius, A.D. 357. His body rests under the high altar, with that of St. Orosus, a Spanish priest, who suffered at the same time. The ceiling of the church is painted by Mengs, and represents the apotheosis of the patron saint. The campanile dates from 1220. In this convent (which was conceded to the Jesuits in 1825 by Leo XII.) English clergymen about to join the Roman Catholic Church frequently "make a retreat" before their reception; Archdeacon Wilberforce is one of many converts who have been received here.

Turning towards Sta. Maria Maggiore, on the left is a Cross on a pedestal formed by a cannon reversed, and inscribed "In hoc signo vinces,"—a memorial of the absolution given by Clement VIII. in 1595 to Henry IV. of France on his being received into the Roman Catholic Church.

Opposite this is a peculiar round arched doorway—unique in Rome—forming the entrance to the Church of S. Antonio Abbate, said to occupy the site of a temple of Diana. The church is decorated with very coarsely-executed frescoes of the life of the saint,—his birth, his confirmation by a bishop who predicted his future saintship, and his temptation by the devil in various forms.

"S. Antonio, called 'the patriarch of monks,' became a hermit in his twentieth year, and lived alone in the Egyptian desert till his fifty-fifth year, when he founded his monastery of Phaim, where he died at the age of 105, having passed his life in perpetual prayer, and often tasting no food for three days at a time. In the desert Satan was permitted to assault him in a visible manner, to terrify him with dismal noises; and once he so grievously beat him that he lay almost dead, covered with bruises and wounds. At other times the fiends attacked him with terrible clamours, and a variety of spectres, in hideous shapes of the most frightful wild beasts, which they assumed to dismay and terrify him; till a ray of heavenly light breaking in upon him, chased them away, and caused him to cry out, 'Where wast thou, my Lord and Master? Why wast thou not with me?' And a voice answered, 'Anthony, I was here the whole time; I stood by thee, and beheld thy combat: and because thou hast manfully withstood thy enemies I will always protect thee, and will render thy name famous throughout the earth.'"—Butler's Lives of the Saints.

"Surely the imagery painted on the inner walls of Egyptian tombs, and probably believed by Anthony and his compeers to be connected with devil-worship, explains his visions. In the 'Words of the Elders' a monk complains of being troubled with 'pictures, old and new.' Probably, again, the pain which Anthony felt was the agony of a fever, and the visions which he saw its delirium."—Kingsley's Hermits.

In the chapel of S. Antonio is a very ancient mosaic, representing a tiger tearing a bull.

"Le tigre en mosaïque conservé dans l'église de St. Antoine, patron des animaux, est, selon toute apparence, le portrait d'un acteur renommé."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iv. 28.

Hither, on the week following the feast of St. Anthony (January 17), horses, mules, and cows are brought to be blest as a preservative against accidents for the year to come. On the 23rd, the horses of the pope, Prince Borghese, and other Roman grandees (about 2½ P.M.) are sent for this purpose. All the animals are sprinkled with holy water by a priest, who receives a gift in proportion to the wealth of their master, and recites over each group the formula,—

"Per intercessionem beati Antonii Abbatis, hæc animalia liberantur a malis, in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen!"

"Les bergers romains faisaient la lustration de leurs taureaux; ils purifiaient leurs brebis à la fête de Pales (pour écarter d'eux toute influence funeste), comme ils les font encore asperger d'eau bénite à la fête de Saint Antoine."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. ii. 329.[272]

"'Long live St. Anthony,' writes Mabillon (in the 17th century) as he describes the horses, asses, and mules, all going on the saint's festival to be sprinkled with holy water, and receive the benediction of a reverend father. 'All would go to ruin,' say the Romans, 'if this act of piety were omitted.' So nobody escapes paying toll on this occasion, not even Nostro Signore himself."—Stephens' French Benedictines.

"S. Antonio Abbate is the patron of the four-footed creation, and his feast is a saturnalia for the usually hard-worked beasts and for their attendants and drivers. Gentlefolks must be content on this day to stay at home or go on foot, for there are not wanting solemn tales of how the unbelievers who had obliged their coachmen to drive out on this day have been punished by great misfortunes. The church of S. Antonio stands in a large piazza, usually looking like a desert; but to-day it was enlivened by a varied throng: horses and mules, with tails and manes splendidly interlaced with ribbons, are brought to a small chapel standing somewhat apart from the church, where a priest armed with a large asperge plentifully besprinkles the animals with the holy water which is placed before him in tubs and pails, sometimes apparently with a sly wish to excite them to gambols. Devout coachmen bring larger or smaller wax-tapers, and their masters send alms and gifts, in order to secure to their valuable and useful animals a year's exemption from disease and accident. Horned cattle and donkeys, equally precious and serviceable to their owners, have their share in the blessing."—Goethe, Romische Briefe.

"At the blessing of the animals, an adventure happened, which afforded us some amusement. A countryman, having got a blessing on his beast, putting his whole trust in its power, set off from the church door at a grand gallop, and had scarcely cleared a hundred yards before the ungainly animal tumbled down with him, and over its head he rolled into the dirt. He soon got up, however, and shook himself, and so did the horse, without either seeming to be much the worse. The priest seemed not a whit out of countenance at this; and some of the standers-by exclaimed, with laudable steadfastness of faith, 'That but for the blessing, they might have broken their necks.'"—Eaton's Rome.

"Un postilion Italien, qui voyait mourir son cheval, priait pour lui, et s'écriait: O, Sant' Antonio, abbiate pietà dell' anima sua!"—Madame de Staël.

"The hog was the representative of the demon of sensuality and gluttony, which Anthony is supposed to have vanquished by the exercise of piety and by the divine aid. The ancient custom of placing in all his effigies a black pig at his feet, or under his feet, gave rise to the superstition, that this unclean animal was especially dedicated to him and under his protection. The monks of the Order of St. Anthony kept herds of consecrated pigs, which were allowed to feed at the public charge, and which it was a profanation to steal or kill; hence the proverb about the fatness of a 'Tantony pig.'"—Jameson's Sacred Art, p. 750.

We now enter the Piazza of Sta. Maria Maggiore, in front of which stands a beautiful Corinthian column, now called Colonna della Vergine. This is the last remaining column of the Basilica of Constantine, and is forty-seven feet high without its base and capital. It was brought hither by Paul V. in 1613. The figure of the Virgin on the top is by Bertelot.

The Basilica of Sta. Maria Maggiore, frequently named from its founder the Liberian Basilica, was founded A.D. 352, by Pope Liberius, and John,[273] a Roman patrician, to commemorate a miraculous fall of snow, which covered this spot of ground and no other, on the 5th of August, when the Virgin appearing in a vision, showed them that she had thus appropriated the site of a new temple.[274] This legend is commemorated every year on the 5th of August, the festa of La Madonna della Neve, when, during a solemn high mass in the Borghese chapel, showers of white rose-leaves are thrown down constantly through two holes in the ceiling, "like a leafy mist between the priests and worshippers."

This church, in spite of many alterations, is in some respects internally the most beautiful and harmonious building in Rome, and retains much of the character which it received when rebuilt between 432 and 440, by Sixtus III., who dedicated it to Sta. Maria Mater Dei, and established it as one of the four patriarchal basilicas, whence it is provided with the "porta santa," only opened by the pope, with great solemnity, four times in a century.

The west front was added under Benedict XIV. (Lambertini) in 1741, by Ferdinando Fuga, destroying a portico of the time of Eugenius III., of which the only remnant is an architrave, inserted into which is an inscription, quoted by its defenders in proof of the existence of Mariolatry in the twelfth century:—

"Tertius Eugenius Romanus Papa benignus

Obtulit hoc munus, Virgo Maria, tibi,

Quæ Mater Christi fieri merito meruisti,

Salva perpetua Virginitate tibi.

Es Via, Vita, Salus, totius Gloria Mundi,

Da veniam culpis, Virginitatis Honos."

In this portico is a statue of Philip IV. of Spain by Lucenti. In the upper story are preserved the mosaics which once decorated the old façade, some of them representing the miracle which led to the foundation of the church.

"To 1300 belong the mosaics on the upper part of the façade of Sta. Maria Maggiore (now inserted in the loggia), in which, in two rows, framed in architectural decorations, may be seen Christ in the act of benediction, and several saints above, and the legend of the founding of the church below—both well-arranged compositions. An inscription gives the name of the otherwise unknown master, 'Philippus Rusuti.' This work was formerly attributed to the Florentine mosaicist Gaddo Gaddi, who died 1312."—Kugler.

Five doors, if we include the walled-up Porta Santa, lead into the magnificent nave (280 feet long, 60 broad), lined by an avenue of white marble columns, surmounted by a frieze of mosaic pictures from the Old Testament, of A.D. 440—unbroken, except where six of the subjects have been cut away to make room for arches in front of the two great side chapels. The mosaics increase in splendour as they approach the tribune, in front of which is a grand baldacchino by Fuga, erected by Benedict XIV., supported by four porphyry columns wreathed with gilt leaves, and surmounted by four marble angels by Pietro Bracci. The pavement is of the most glorious opus-alexandrinum, and its crimson and violet hues temper the white and gold on the walls. The flat roof (by Sangallo), panelled and carved, is gilt with the first gold brought to Spain from South America, and presented to Alexander VI. by Ferdinand and Isabella.

"The mosaics above the chancel arch are valuable for the illustration of Christian doctrine: the throne of the Lamb as described in the Apocalypse, SS. Peter and Paul beside it (the earliest instance of their being thus represented); and the four symbols of the Evangelists above; the Annunciation; the Angel appearing to Zacharias; the Massacre of the Innocents; the Presentation in the Temple; the Adoration of the Magi; Herod receiving the head of St. John the Baptist; and, below these groups, a flock of sheep, type of the faithful, issuing from the mystic cities, Bethlehem and Jerusalem. We see here one curious example of the nimbus, round the head of Herod, as a symbol of power, apart from sanctity. In certain details these mosaics have been altered, with a view to adapting them to modern devotional bias, in a manner that deserves reprobation; but Ciampini (Monumenta Vetera) shows us in engraving what the originals were before this alteration, effected under Benedict XIV. In the group of the Adoration the child alone occupied the throne, while opposite (in the original work) was seated, on another chair, an elderly person in a long blue mantle veiling the head—concluded by Ciampini to be the senior among the Magi; the two others, younger, and both in the usual Oriental dress, with trousers and Phrygian caps, being seen to approach at the same side, whilst the mother stood beside the throne of the child,—her figure recognisable from its resemblance to others in scenes where she appears in the same series. As this group is now before us, the erect figure is left out; the seated one is converted into that of Mary, with a halo round the head, though in the original even such attribute (alike given to the Saviour and to all the angels introduced) is not assigned to her."—Hemans' Ancient Christian Art.

The vault of the tribune is covered with mosaics by Jacopo da Turrita, the same who executed those at the Lateran basilica.

"A general affinity with the style of Cimabue is observable in some mosaics executed by contemporary artists. Those in Sta. Maria Maggiore are inscribed with the name of Jacobus Torriti, and executed between 1287 and 1292. They are surpassed by no contemporary work in dignity, grace, and decorative beauty of arrangement. In a blue, gold-starred circle is seen Christ enthroned with the Virgin; on each side are adoring angels, kneeling and flying, on a gold ground, with St. Peter and St. Paul, the two St. Johns, St. Francis, and St. Anthony (the same in size and position as at St. J. Lateran), advancing devoutly along. The upper part is filled with graceful vine-branches, with symbolical animals among them. Below is Jordan, with small river gods, boats, and figures of men and animals. Further below are scenes from the life of Christ in animated arrangement. The group in the centre of the circle, of Christ enthroned with the Virgin, is especially fine: while the Saviour is placing the crown on His mother's head, she lifts up her hands with the expression both of admiration and of modest remonstrance.[275] The forms are very pure and noble; the execution careful, and very different from the Roman mosaics of the twelfth century."—Kugler.

In front of and beneath the high altar Pius IX. has lately been preparing his own monument, by constructing a splendid chamber approached by staircases, and lined with the most precious alabaster and marbles.

On the right of the western entrance is the tomb of the Rospigliosi pope, Clement IX. (1667—69), the work of Ercole Ferrata, a pupil of Bernini. His body rests before the high altar, surrounded by a number of the members of his family. Left of the entrance is the tomb of Nicholas IV., Masci (1288-92), erected to his memory three hundred years after his death by Sixtus V. while still a cardinal. He is represented giving benediction, between two allegorical figures of Justice and Religion,—a fine work of Leonardo da Sarzana.

"It is well to know that this pope, a mere upstart from the dust, sought to support himself through the mighty family of Colonna, by raising them too high. His friend, the Cardinal Giacomo Colonna, contributed with him to the renewal of the mosaics which are in the tribune of Sta. Maria Maggiore, and one can see their two figures there to this day. It was in this reign that Ptolemais, the last possession of the Christians in Asia, fell into the hands of the Mohammedans; thus ended the era of the Crusades."—Gregorovius.

Behind this tomb, near the walled-up Porta Santa, is a good tomb of two bishops, brothers, of the fifteenth century, and in the same aisle are many other monuments of the sixteenth century, some of them fine in their way.

Nearly on a line with the baldacchino is the entrance of the Borghese Chapel, built by Flaminio Ponzio for Paul V. in 1608, gorgeous with precious marbles and alabasters. Over its altar is preserved one of the pictures attributed to St. Luke (and announced to be such in a papal bull attached to the walls!), much revered from the belief that it stayed the plague which decimated the city during the reign of Pelagius II., and that (after its intercession had been sought by a procession by order of Innocent VIII.) it brought about the overthrow of the Moorish dominion in Spain.

"On conserve à Sainte Marie Majeure une des images de la Madonne peintes par St. Luc, et plusieurs fois on a trouvé les anges chantant les litanies autour de ce tableau."—Stendhal.

The "Scheme of decorations in this gorgeous chapel is so remarkable, as testifying to the development which the theological idea of the Virgin, as the Sposa or personified Church, had attained in the time of Paul V.—the same pope who in 1615 promulgated the famous bull relative to the Immaculate Conception"—that the insertion of the whole passage of Mrs. Jameson on this subject will not be considered too much.

"First, and elevated above all, we have the 'Madonna della Concezione,' 'Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception,' in a glory of light, sustained and surrounded by angels, having the crescent under her feet, according to the approved treatment. Beneath, round the dome, we read in conspicuous letters the text from the Revelation:—SIGNUM. MAGNUM. APPARAVIT. IN. CŒLO. MULIER. AMICTA. SOLE. ET. LUNA. SUB. PEDIBUS. EJUS. ET. IN. CAPITE. EJUS. CORONA. STELLARUM. DUODECIM. Lower down is a second inscription expressing the dedication. MARIÆ. CHRISTI. MATRI. SEMPER. VIRGINI. PAULUS. QUINTUS. P.M. The decorations beneath the cornice consist of eighteen large frescoes, and six statues in marble, above life size. We have the subjects arranged in the following order:—

"1. The four great prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, in their usual place in the four pendatives of the dome.

"2. Two large frescoes. In the first the Vision of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, and Heretics bitten by Serpents. In the second, St. John Damascene and S. Ildefonso miraculously rewarded for defending the majesty of the Virgin.

"3. A large fresco, representing the four Doctors of the Church who had especially written in honour of the Virgin: viz., Irenæus and Cyprian, Ignatius and Theophilus, grouped two and two.

"4. St. Luke, who painted the Virgin, and whose gospel contains the best account of her.

"5. As spiritual conquerors in the name of the Virgin, St. Dominic and St. Francis, each attended by two companions of his Order.

"6. As military conquerors in the name of the Virgin, the Emperor Heraclius, and Narses, the general against the Arians.

"7. A group of three female figures, representing the three famous saintly princesses, who in marriage preserved their virginity, Pulcheria, Edeltruda (our famous Queen Ethelreda), and Cunegunda.

"8. A group of three learned Bishops, who had especially defended the immaculate purity of the Virgin, St. Cyril, St. Anselm, and St. Denis (?).

"9. The miserable ends of those who were opposed to the honour of the Virgin. 1. The death of Julian the Apostate, very oddly represented; he lies on an altar, transfixed by an arrow, as a victim; St. Mercurius in the air. 2. The death of Leo IV., who destroyed the effigies of the Virgin. 3. The death of Constantine IV., also a famous iconoclast.

"The statues which are placed in niches are—

"1—2. St. Joseph, as the nominal husband, and St. John the Evangelist, as the nominal son, of the Virgin; the latter, also, as prophet and poet, with reference to the passage in the Revelation, xii. i.

"3—4. Aaron, as priestly ancestor (because his wand blossomed), and David, as kingly ancestor, of the Virgin.

"5—6. St. Dionysius the Areopagite, who was present at the death of the Virgin, and St. Bernard, who composed the famous 'Salve Regina' in her honour.

"Such is this grand systematic scheme of decoration, which, to those who regard it cursorily, is merely a sumptuous confusion of colours and forms, or at best a 'fine example of the Guido school and Bernini.' It is altogether a very complete and magnificent specimen of the prevalent style of art, and a very comprehensive and suggestive expression of the prevalent tendency of thought in the Roman Catholic Church from the beginning of the seventeenth century. In no description of this chapel have I seen the names and subjects accurately given: the style of art belongs to the decadence, and the taste being worse than questionable, the prevailing doctrinal idea has been neglected, or never understood."—Legends of the Madonna, lxxi.

On the right is the tomb of Clement VIII. (1592—1605), the Florentine Ippolito Aldobrandini, the builder of the new palace of the Vatican, and the cruel torturer and executioner of the Cenci. He is represented in the act of benediction. The bas-reliefs on his monument commemorate the principal events of his reign,—the conclusion of peace between France and Spain, and the taking of Ferrara, which he seized from the heirs of Alphonso II.

On the left is the tomb of Paul V. (1605-1621), Camillo Borghese,—in whose reign St. Peter's was finished, as every traveller learns from the gigantic inscription over its portico,—who founded the great Borghese family, and left to his nephew, Cardinal Scipio Borghese, a fortune which enabled him to buy the Borghese Palace and to build the Borghese Villa.

"It is a truly herculean figure, with a grandly developed head, while in his thick neck, pride, violence, and sensuality seem to be united. He is the first pope who wore the beard of a cavalier, like that of Henry IV., which recalls the Thirty-years' War, which he lived through; as far as the battle of the White Mountain. In this round, domineering, pride-swollen countenance, appears the violent, imperious spirit of Paul, which aimed at an absolute power. Who does not remember his famous quarrel with Venice, and the rôle which his far superior adversary Paolo Sarpi played with such invincible courage? The bas-reliefs of his tomb represent the reception given by the pope to the envoys of Congo and Japan, the building of the citadel of Ferrara, the sending of auxiliary troops to Hungary to the assistance of Rudolph II., and the canonization of Sta. Francesca Romana and S. Carlo Borromeo."—Gregorovius.

The frescoes in the cupola are by Cigoli; those around the altar by the Cav. D'Arpino; those above the tombs and on the arches by Guido, except the Madonna, which is by Lanfranco. The late beloved Princess Borghese, née Lady Gwendoline Talbot, was buried in front of the altar, all Rome following her to the grave.

The funeral of Princess Borghese proved the feeling with which she was regarded. Her body lay upon a car which was drawn by forty young Romans, and was followed by all the poor of Rome, the procession swelling like a river in every street and piazza it passed through, while from all the windows as it passed flowers were showered down. In funeral ceremonies of great personages at Rome an ancient custom is observed by which, when the body is lowered into the grave, a chamberlain, coming out to the church door, announces to the coachman, who is waiting with the family carriage, that his master or mistress has no longer need of his services; and the coachman thereupon breaks his staff of office and drives mournfully away. When this formality was fulfilled at the funeral of Princess Borghese, the whole of the vast crowd waiting outside the basilica broke into tears and sobs, and kneeling by a common impulse, prayed aloud for the soul of their benefactress.

The chapel has been lately the scene of a miraculous story, with reference to a visionary appearance of the Princess Borghese, which has obtained great credit among the people, by whom she is already looked upon as a saint.

The first chapel in the right aisle is that of the Patrizi family, and close by is the sepulchral stone of their noble ancestor, Giovanni Patricino, whose bones were found beneath the high altar, and deposited here in 1700. A little further is the chapel of the Santa Croce, with ten porphyry columns. Then comes the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament, built by Fontana for Sixtus V. while still Cardinal of Montalto. Gregory XIII., who was then on the throne, visited this gorgeous chapel when it was nearly completed, and immediately decided that one who could build such a splendid temple was sufficiently rich, and suppressed the cardinal's pension. Fontana advanced a thousand scudi for the completion of the work, and had the delicacy never to allow the cardinal to imagine that he was indebted to him. The chapel, restored 1870, is adorned with statues by Giobattista Pozzo, Cesare Nebbia, and others. Under the altar is a presepio—one of the best works of Bernini, and opposite to it, in the confession, a beautiful statue of S. Gaetano (founder of the Theatines, who died 1547[276]), with two little children. On the right is the splendid tomb of Pius V., Michaele Ghislieri (1566—72), the barefooted, bareheaded Dominican monk of Sta. Sabina, who in his short six years' reign beheld amongst other events the victory of Lepanto, the fall of the Huguenots in France, and the massacre of St. Bartholomew, events which were celebrated at Rome with fêtes and thanksgivings. The figure of the pope, a monk wasted to a skeleton (by Leonardo de Sarzana), sits in the central niche, between statues of St. Dominic and St. Peter Martyr. A number of bas-reliefs by different sculptors represent the events of his life. Some are by the Flemish artists Nicolas d'Arras and Egidius.

On the left, is the tomb of Sixtus V. (1585-90), Felice Perretti, who as a boy kept his father's pigs at Montalto; who as a young man was a Franciscan monk preaching in the Apostoli, and attracting crowds by his eloquence; and who then rose to be bishop of Fermo, soon after to be cardinal, and was lastly raised to the papal throne, which he occupied only five years, a time which sufficed for the prince of the Church who loved building the most, to renew Rome entirely.

"If anything can still the spectator to silence, and awaken him to great recollections, it is the monument of this astonishing man, who, as child, herded swine, and as an old man commanded people and kings, and who filled Rome with so many works, that from every side his name, like an echo, rings in the traveller's ear. We never cease to be amazed at the wonderful luck which raised Napoleon from the dust to the throne of the world, as if it were a romance or a fairy story. But if in the history of kings these astonishing changes are extraordinary accidents, they seem quite natural in the history of the popes, they belong to the very essence of Christendom, which does not appeal to the person, but to the spirit; and while the one history is full of ordinary men, who, without the prerogative of their crown, would have sunk into eternal oblivion, the other is rich in great men, who, placed in a different sphere, would have been equally worthy of renown."—Gregorovius.

In a little chapel on the left of the entrance of this—which is as it were a transept of the church—is a fine picture of St. Jerome by Spagnuoletto, and in the chapel opposite a sarcophagus of two early Christian consuls, richly wrought in the Roman imperial style, but with Christian subjects,—Daniel in the den of lions, Zaccheus in the sycamore-tree, Martha at the raising of Lazarus, &c.

At the east end of the right aisle, near the door, is perhaps the finest gothic monument in Rome,—the tomb of Cardinal Gonsalvi, bishop of Albano, c. 1299.

"A recumbent statue, in pontifical vestments, rests on a sarcophagus, and two angels draw aside curtains as if to show us the dead; in the background is a mosaic of Mary enthroned, with the Child, the apostle Matthias, St. Jerome, and a smaller kneeling figure of Gonsalvi, in pontifical robes; at the apex is a tabernacle with cusped arch, and below the epitaph 'Hoc opus fecit Joannes Magister Cosmæ civis Romanus,' the artist's record of himself. In the hands of St. Matthias and St. Jerome are scrolls; on that held by the apostle, the words, 'Me tenet ara prior'; on St. Jerome's,'Recubo presepis ad antrum', these epigraphs confirming the tradition that the bodies of St. Matthias and St. Jerome repose in this church, while indicating the sites of their tombs. Popular regards have distinguished this tomb; no doubt in intended honour to the Blessed Virgin, lamps are kept ever burning, and vases of flowers ranged, before her mosaic image."—Hemans' Mediæval Christian Art.

At the west end of the right aisle is the entrance of the Baptistery, which has a vast porphyry vase as a font. Hence we reach the Sacristy, in the inner chamber of which are some exceedingly beautiful bas-reliefs by Mino da Fiesole.

One of the greatest of the Christmas ceremonies is the procession at 5 A.M., in honour of the great relic of the church—the Santa Culla—i.e., the cradle in which our Saviour was carried into Egypt, not, as is frequently imagined, the manger, which is allowed to have been of stone, and of which a single stone only is supposed to have found its way to Rome, and to be preserved in the altar of the Blessed Sacrament. The "Santa Culla" is preserved in a magnificent reliquary, six feet high, adorned with bas-reliefs and statuettes in silver. On the afternoon of Christmas eve the public can visit the relic at an altar in a little chapel near the sacristy. On the afternoon of Christmas Day it is also exposed, but upon the high altar, where it is less easily seen.

"Le Seigneur Jésus a voulu naître dans une étable; mais les hommes ont apporté précieusement le petit berceau qui a reçu le salut du monde, dans la reine des cités, et ils l'ont enchâssé dans l'or.

"C'est bien ici que nous devons accourir avec joie et redire ce chant triomphant de l'Église: Adeste, fideles, læti triumphantes; venite, venite in Bethleem."—Une Chrétienne à Rome.

Among the many other relics preserved here are two little bags of the brains of St. Thomas à Becket.

It was in this church that Pope St. Martin I. was celebrating mass in the seventh century, when a guard sent by the Exarch Olympius appeared on the threshold with orders to seize and put him to death. At the sight of the pontiff the soldier was stricken with blindness, a miracle which led to the conversion of Olympius and many other persons.

Platina, the historian of the popes, was buried here, with the epitaph: "Quisquis es, si pius, Platynam et sua ne vexes, anguste jacent et soli volunt esse."

Sta. Maria Maggiore was the scene of the seizure of Hildebrand by Cencius:

"On Christmas Eve, 1075, the city of Rome was visited by a dreadful tempest. Darkness brooded over the land, and the trembling spectators believed that the day of final judgment was about to dawn. In this war of the elements, however, two processions were seen advancing to the Church of Sta. Maria Maggiore. At the head of one was the aged Hildebrand, conducting a few priests to worship at the shrine of the Virgo Deipara. The other was preceded by Cencius, a Roman noble. At each pause in the tempest might be heard the hallelujahs of the worshippers, or the voice of the pontiff, pouring out benedictions on the little flock which knelt before him—when Cencius grasped his person, and some yet more daring ruffian inflicted a wound on his forehead. Bound with cords, stripped of his sacred vestments, beaten, and subjected to the basest indignities, the venerable minister of Christ was carried to a fortified mansion within the walls of the city, again to be removed at daybreak to exile or death. Women were there, with women's sympathy and kindly offices, but they were rudely put aside; and a drawn sword was already aimed at the pontiff's bosom, when the cries of a fierce multitude, threatening to burn or batter down the house, arrested the aim of the assassin. An arrow, discharged from below, reached and slew him. The walls rocked beneath the strokes of the maddened populace, and Cencius, falling at his prisoner's feet, became himself a suppliant for pardon and for life.... In profound silence, and with undisturbed serenity, Hildebrand had thus far submitted to these atrocious indignities. The occasional raising of his eyes towards heaven alone indicated his consciousness of them. But to the supplication of his prostrate enemy he returned an instant and a calm assurance of forgiveness. He rescued Cencius from the exasperated besiegers, dismissed him in safety and in peace, and returned, amidst the acclamations of the whole Roman people, to complete the interrupted solemnities of Sta. Maria Maggiore."—Stephens' Lectures on Eccles. Hist.

Leaving the church by the door behind the tribune, we find ourselves at the top of the steep slope of the Esquiline and in front of an Obelisk erected here by Fontana for Sixtus V.,—brought from Egypt by Claudius, and one of two which were used to guard the entrance to the mausoleum of Augustus. The inscriptions on three of its sides are worth notice:—"Christi Dei in æternum viventis cunabula lætissime colo, qui mortui sepulchro Augusti tristis serviebam."—"Quem Augustus de vergine nasciturum vivens adoravit, sed deinceps dominum dici noluit, adoro."—"Christus per invictam crucem populo pacem præbeat, qui Augusti pace in præsepe nasci voluit."

CHAPTER XIII.

THE BASILICAS OF THE LATERAN, SANTA CROCE, AND S. LORENZO.

Via S. Giovanni—The Obelisk and Baptistery—Basilica and Cloisters—Mosaic of the Triclinium—Santa Scala—Palace of the Lateran—Villa Massimo Arsole—SS. Pietro e Marcellino—Villa Wolkonski—(Porta Furba—Tombs of the Via Latina—Basilica of S. Stefano)—Santa Croce in Gerusalemme—Amphitheatrum Castrense—Porta Maggiore—(Tomb of Sta. Helena—Torre dei Schiavi—Cervaletto—Cerbara)—Porta and Basilica of S. Lorenzo—Catacomb of S. Hippolytus.

BEHIND the Coliseum the Via S. Giovanni ascends the slope of the Esquiline. In mediæval times this road was always avoided by the popes, on account (as most authorities state) of the scandal attaching to the more than doubtful legend of Joan, the famous papessa, who is said to have horrified her attendants by giving birth to a child on this spot, during a procession from the Lateran, and to have died of shame and terror immediately afterwards. Joan is stated to have been educated at Athens, to have skilfully obtained her election to the papal throne, disguised as a man, between the reign of Leo IV. and that of Benedict III. (855), and to have taken the name of John VIII. In the cathedral of Siena the heads of all the popes in terra-cotta (down to Alexander III.) decorate the frieze above the arches of the nave, and among them was that of Pope Joan, inscribed "Johannes VIII. Femina de Anglia," till 1600, when it was changed into a head of Pope Zacharias by the Grand Duke, at the request of Pope Clement VIII.

On the left of this street is S. Clemente (described Ch. VII.). On the right, a long wall flooded by a cascade of Banksia roses in spring, and a villa inlaid with terra-cotta ornaments, are those of the favourite residence of the well-known Marchese Campana, the learned archæologist of Etruria, and the chief benefactor of the Etruscan museum at the Vatican, cruelly imprisoned and exiled by the papal government in 1858, upon an accusation of having tampered with the revenues of Monte di Pietà.

Beyond the turn of the road leading to S. Stefano Rotondo (Ch. VII.), bas-reliefs of Our Saviour's Head (from the Acheirotopeton in the Sancta Sanctorum) between two candelabra—upon the different buildings, announce the property of the Lateran chapter.

The Piazza di San Giovanni is surrounded by a remarkable group of buildings. In front are the Baptistery and Basilica of the Lateran. On the right is a Hospital for women, capable of containing 600 patients; on the left, beyond the modern palace, are seen the buildings which enclose the Santa Scala, and some broken arches of the Aqua Marcia. In the centre of the piazza is the Obelisk of the Lateran, 150 feet high, the oldest object in Rome, being referred by translators of hieroglyphics to the year 1740 B.C., when it was raised in memory of the Pharaoh Thothmes IV. It was brought, from the temple of the Sun at Heliopolis, to Alexandria by Constantine, and removed thence by his son Constantius to Rome, where it was used, together with the obelisk now in the Piazza del Popolo, to ornament the Circus Maximus. Hence it was moved to its present site in 1588, by Fontana, for Sixtus V. The obelisk was then broken into three pieces, and in order to piece them together, some part had to be cut off, but it is still the tallest in the city. One of the inscriptions on the basement is false, as it narrates that Constantine received at the Lateran the baptism which he did not receive till he was dying at Nicomedia.

An octagon building of mean and miserable exterior is that of the Baptistery of the Lateran, sometimes called S. Giovanni in Fonte, built, not by Constantine, to whom it is falsely ascribed, but by Sixtus III. (430-40). Of his time are the two porphyry columns at the entrance on the side nearest the church, and the eight which form a colonnade round the interior, supporting a cornice from which rise the eight small columns of white marble, which sustain the dome. In the centre is the font of green basalt in which Rienzi bathed on the night of August 1, 1347, before his public appearance as a knight, when he summoned Clement VI. and other sovereigns of Europe to appear before him for judgment. The cupola is decorated with scenes from the life of John the Baptist by Andrea Sacchi. On the walls are frescoes pourtraying the life of Constantine by Gimignano, Carlo Maratta, and Andrea Camassei.

On the right is the Chapel of St. John the Baptist, built by Pope Hilary (461-67). Between two serpentine columns is a figure of St. John Baptist by L. Valadico after Donatello.

On the left is the Chapel of St. John the Evangelist, also built by Hilary, who presented its bronze doors (said to have once belonged to the Baths of Caracalla) in remembrance of his delivery from the fury of fanatical monks at the Second Council of Ephesus, where he appeared as the legate of Leo I.,—a fact commemorated by the inscription: "Liberatori suo B. Joanni Evangelistæ Hilarius Episcopus famulus Christi." The vault is covered with mosaics representing the Spotless Lamb in Paradise. Here is a statue of St. John by Landini.

Close by is the entrance to the Oratory of S. Venanzio,[277] built in 640 by John IV., and dedicated to St. Venantius, from a filial feeling to his father, who bore the same name. Nothing, however, remains of this time but the mosaics. Those in the apse represent the Saviour in the act of benediction with angels, and below him the Virgin (an aged woman) in adoration,[278] with St. Peter and St. John Baptist, St. Paul and St. John the Evangelist, St. Venantius and St. Domnus—and another figure unnamed, probably John IV., holding the model of a church. Outside the chancel arch are eight saints, with their names (Palmianus, Julius, Asterius, Anastasius, Maurus, Septimius, Antiochianus, Cajanus), the symbols of the evangelists, and the cities Bethlehem and Jerusalem; also the verses:—

"Martyribus Christi Domini pia vota Johannes

Reddidit antistes sanctificante Deo.

Ac sacri fontis simile fulgente metallo,

Providus instanter hoc copulavit opus:

Quo quisque gradiens et Christum pronus adorans,

Effusasque preces impetrat ille suas."

The next chapel, called the Capella Borgia, and used as the burial-place of that family, was once an open portico, but this character was destroyed by the building up of the intercolumniations. On its façade are a number of fragments of ancient friezes, &c. Over the inner door is a bas-relief of the Crucifixion, of 1494.

The piteous modernization of this ancient group of chapels is chiefly due to the folly of Urban VIII. The baptistery is used on Easter Eve for the ceremony of adult baptism, the recipients being called Jews.

The Lateran derives its name from a rich patrician family, whose estates were confiscated by Nero, when their head, Plautius Lateranus, was put to death for taking part in the conspiracy of Piso.[279] It afterwards became an imperial residence, and a portion of it being given by Maximianus to his daughter Fausta, second wife of Constantine, received the name of "Domus Faustæ." It was this which was given by Constantine to Pope Melchiades in 312,—a donation which was confirmed to St. Sylvester, in whose reign the first basilica was built here, and consecrated on November 9, 324, Constantine having laboured with his own hands at the work. This basilica was overthrown by an earthquake in 896, but was rebuilt by Sergius III. (904—11), being then dedicated to St. John the Baptist. This second basilica, whose glories are alluded to by Dante,—

——"Quando Laterano

Alle cose mortale andò di sopra."

Paradiso, xxxi.

was of the greatest interest, but was almost entirely destroyed by fire in 1308. It was rebuilt, only to be again burnt down in 1360, when it remained for four years in utter ruin, in which state it was seen and mourned over by Petrarch. The fourth restoration of the basilica was due to Urban V. (1362-70), but it has since undergone a series of mutilations and modernizations, which have deplorably injured it. The west front still retains the inscription "Sacrosancta Lateranensis ecclesia, Omnium urbis et orbis Ecclesiarum Mater et Caput;" the Chapter of the Lateran still takes precedence even over that of St. Peter's; and every newly elected pope comes hither for his coronation.

"St. J. Lateran est regardé comme le siége du patriarchal romain. À St. Pierre le pape est souverain pontife. À St. J. Lateran il est évêque de Rome. Quand le pape est élu, il vient à St. J. Lateran prendre possession de son siége comme évêque de Rome."—A. Du Pays.

The west end of the basilica is in part a remnant of the building of the tenth century, and has two quaint towers (rebuilt by Sixtus IV.) at the end of the transept, and a rich frieze of terra-cotta. The church is entered from the transept by a portico, ending in a gloomy chapel which contains a statue of Henry IV., by Niccolo Cordieri. The transept—rich in colour from its basement of varied marbles, and its upper frescoes of the legendary history of Constantine—is by far the finest part of the basilica, which, as a whole, is infinitely inferior to Sta. Maria Maggiore. The nave, consisting of five aisles, is of grand proportions, but has been hideously modernized under Borromini, who has enclosed all its ancient columns, except two near the tribune, in tawdry plaster piers, in front of which are huge statues of the apostles; the roof is gilt and gaudy, the tabernacle ugly and ill-proportioned,—only the ancient pavement of opus-alexandrinum is fine. Confessionals for different languages are placed here as in St. Peter's. The Tabernacle was erected by Urban V. in the fourteenth century. Four granite columns support a gothic canopy, decorated at its angles with canopied statuettes. Between these, on either side, are three much restored frescoes by Berni da Siena, those in central panels representing the Annunciation, the Crucifixion, the Coronation of the Virgin, and the Saviour as a shepherd (very beautifully treated) feeding his flock with corn. The skulls of SS. Peter and Paul are said to be preserved here. The altar encloses the greater part of the famous wooden table, saved at great risk of life from the conflagration of 1308, upon which St. Peter is supposed to have celebrated mass in the house of Pudens.[280] The steps of the altar (at the top of which the pope is installed) have an allegorical enamelled border with emblems of an asp, a dragon, a lion, and basilisk, in allusion to Psalm xci.

In the confession, in front of the altar, is the bronze tomb of Martin V., Oddone Colonna (1417—24), the wise and just pope who was elected at the Council of Constance to put an end to the schism which had long divided the papacy, and which had almost reduced the capital of the Church to ruins. A bronze slab bears his figure, in low-relief, and is a fine work of Antonio Filarete, author of the bronze doors at St. Peter's. It bears the appropriate surname which was given to this justly-loved pope—"Temporum suorum felicitas."

The tribune is of the time of Nicholas IV. (1287—1292). Above the arch is a grand mosaic head of the Saviour, attributed to the time of Constantine, and evidently of the fourth century,—of great interest on this spot, as commemorating the vision of the Redeemer, who is said to have appeared here on the day of the consecration of the church by Sylvester and Constantine, looking down upon the people, and solemnly hallowing the work with his visible presence. The head, which is grand and sad in expression, is surrounded by six-winged seraphim. Below is an ornamented cross, above which hovers a dove—from whose beak, running down the cross, flow the waters which supply the four rivers of Paradise. The disciples, as harts (panting for the water-brooks) and sheep, flock to drink of the waters of life. In the distance is the New Jerusalem, within which the Phœnix, the bird of eternity, is seated upon the tree of Life, guarded by an angel with a two-edged sword. Beside the cross stand, on the left, the Virgin with her hand resting on the head of the kneeling pope, Nicholas IV.; St. Peter with a scroll inscribed, "Tu es Christus filius Dei vivi;" St. Paul with a scroll inscribed, "Salvatorem expectamus Dominum Jesum." On the right St. John the Baptist, St. John the Evangelist, St. Andrew (all with their names). Between the first and second of these figures are others, on a smaller scale, of St. Francis and St. Anthony of Padua. All these persons are represented as walking in a flowery Paradise, in which the souls of the blessed are besporting, and in front of which flows the Jordan. Below, between the windows, are figures of prophets, and (very small) of two Franciscans, who were the artists of the lower portion of the mosaic, as is shown by the inscriptions, "Jacobus Turriti, pictor, hoc opus fecit;"—"Fra Jacobus de Camerino socius magistri."

Behind the tribune, is all that remains internally of the architecture of the tenth century, in the vaulted passage called "Portico Leonino," from its founder, Leo I. It is supported on low marble and granite columns with Ionic and Corinthian capitals. Here are collected a variety of relics of the ancient basilica. On either side of the entrance are mosaic tablets, which relate to the building of the church. Then, on the right, is a curious kneeling statue of Pope Nicholas IV., Masci (1287—92). On the left, in the centre, is an altar, above which is an ancient crucifix, and on either side tenth century statues of SS. Peter and Paul.

On the right is the entrance to the sacristy (whose inner bronze doors date from 1196), which contains an Annunciation by Sebastian del Piombo, and a sketch by Raphael for the Madonna, called "Della Casa d'Alba," now at St. Petersburg; also an ancient bas-relief, which represents the old and humble basilica of Pope Sergius. On the left, at the end of the passage, is a very handsome cinquecento ciborium, and near it the "Tabula Magna Lateranensis," containing the list of relics belonging to the church.

Near this, opening from the transept, is the Capella del Coro, with handsome wooden stallwork. It contains a portrait of Martin V., by Scipione Gaetani.

The altar of the Sacrament, which closes the transept, has four fluted bronze columns, said to have been brought from Jerusalem by Titus, and to be hollow and filled with earth from Palestine.[281] The last chapel in the left aisle is the Corsini Chapel, erected in 1729 in honour of St. Andrea Corsini, from designs of Alessandro Galilei. It is in the form of a Greek cross, and ranks next to the Borghese Chapel in the richness of its marble decoration. The mosaic altar-piece, representing S. Andrea Corsini, is a copy from Guido. The founder of the chapel, Clement XII., Lorenzo Corsini (1730—40), is buried in a splendid porphyry sarcophagus which he plundered from the Pantheon. Above it is a bronze statue of the pope.[282] Opposite is the tomb of Cardinal Neri Corsini, with a number of statues of the Bernini school.

Beneath the chapel is a vault lined with sarcophagi of the Corsini. Its altar is surmounted by a magnificent Pietà—in whose beautiful and impressive figures it is difficult to recognise a work of the usually coarse and theatrical artist Bernini.

Of the many tombs of mediæval popes which formerly existed in this basilica,[283] none remain, except the memorial slab and epitaph of Sylvester II., Gerbert (999—1003). This pope is said (by the chronicler Martin Polonus de Corenza) to have been a kind of magician, who obtained first the archbishopric of Rheims, then that of Ravenna, and then the papacy, by the aid of the devil, to whom, in return, he promised to belong after death. When he ascended the throne, he asked the devil how long he could reign, and the devil, as is his custom, answered by a double-entendre, "If you never enter Jerusalem, you will reign a long time." He occupied the throne for four years, one month, and ten days, when, one day, as he was officiating in the basilica of Sta. Croce in Gerusalemme, he saw that he had passed the fatal threshold, and that his death was impending. Overwhelmed with repentance, he confessed his backslidings before the people, and exhorted them to lay aside pride, to resist the temptations of the devil, and to lead a good life. After this he begged of his attendants to cut his body in pieces after he was dead, as he deserved, and to place it on a common cart, and bury it wherever the horses stopped of their own accord. Then was manifested the will of the Divine Providence, that repentant sinners should learn that their God preserves for them a place of pardon even in this life,—for the horses went of their own accord to St. John Lateran, where he was buried. "Since then," says Platina, "the rattling of his bones, and the sweat, or rather the damp, with which his tomb becomes covered, has always been the infallible sign and forerunner of the death of a pope"!

Against the second pillar of the right aisle, counting from the west door, is a very interesting fresco of Giotto, originally one of many paintings executed by him for the loggia of the adjoining papal palace, whence the benediction and "plenary indulgence" were given in the jubilee year. It represents Boniface VIII. (Benedetto Gaetani, 1294—1303), the founder of the jubilee, between two priests.

"On y voit Boniface annonçant au peuple le jubilé. Le portrait du pape doit être ressemblant. J'ai reconnu dans cette physiognomie, où il y a plus de finesse que de force, la statue que j'avais vue couchée sur le tombeau de ce pape, dans les souterrains du Vatican."—Ampère, Voyage Dantesque.

Opening from this aisle are several chapels. The second is that of the newly established and rich family of Torlonia, which contains a marble Pietà, by Tenerani, and some handsome modern monuments. The third is that of the Massimi (designed by Giacomo della Porta), which has, as an altar-piece, the Crucifixion by Sermoneta. Beyond this, in the right aisle, are several remarkable tombs of cardinals, among which is the tomb of Cardinal Guissano, who died in 1287. The painters Cav. d'Arpino and Andrea Sacchi are buried in this church.

Entered from the last chapel in the left aisle (by a door which the sacristan will open) is the beautiful twelfth century Cloister of the Monastery, surrounded by low arches supported on exquisite inlaid and twisted columns, above which is a lovely frieze of coloured marbles. The court thus enclosed is a garden of roses; in the centre is a well (adorned with crosses) of the tenth century, called the "Well of the Woman of Samaria." In the cloister is a collection of architectural and traditional relics, including a beautiful old white marble throne, inlaid with mosaics, a candelabrum resting on a lion, and several other exquisitely wrought details from the old basilica; also a porphyry slab upon which the soldiers are said to have cast lots for the seamless robe; columns which were rent by the earthquake of the Crucifixion; a slab, resting on pillars, shown as a measure of the height of Our Saviour,[284] and a smaller slab, also on pillars, of which it is said that it was once an altar, at which the officiating priest doubted of the Real Presence, when the wafer fell from his hand through the stone, leaving a round hole which still remains.

Five General Councils have been held at the Lateran, viz.:—

I.—March 19, 1123, under Calixtus II., with regard to the Investiture.

II.—April 18, 1139, under Innocent II., to condemn the doctrines of Arnold of Brescia and Peter de Bruys, and to oppose the anti-pope Anacletus II.

III.—March 5, 1179, under Alexander III., to condemn the doctrines of Waldenses and Albigenses, and to end the schism caused by Frederick Barbarossa.

IV.—Nov. 11, 1215, at which 400 bishops assembled under Innocent III., to condemn the Albigenses, and the heresies of the Abbot Joachim.

V.—May 3, 1512, under Julius II. and Leo X., at which the Pragmatic Sanction was abolished, and a Concordat concluded between the Pope and Francis I. for the destruction of the liberties of the Gallican Church.

It is in the basilica of the Lateran that the Church places the first meeting between St. Francis and St Dominic.

"Une nuit, pendant que Dominique dormait, il lui sembla voir Jésus-Christ se préparant à exterminer les superbes, les voluptueux, les avares, lorsque tout-à-coup la Vierge l'apaisa en lui présentant deux hommes: l'un d'eux lui-même; quant à l'autre, il ne le connaissait pas; mais le lendemain, la première personne qu'il aperçut, en entrant au Latran, fut l'inconnu qui lui était apparu en songe. Il était couvert de haillons et priait avec ferveur. Dominique se précipita dans ses bras, et l'embrassant avec effusion: 'Tu es mon compagnon,' lui dit-il; 'nous courons la même carrière, demeurons ensemble, et aucun ennemi ne prévaudra contre nous.' Et, à partir de ce moment, dit la légende, ils n'eurent plus qu'un cœur et qu'une âme dans le Seigneur. Ce pauvre, ce mendiant, était saint François d'Assise."—Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne.

Issuing from the west door of the basilica, we find ourselves in a wide portico, one of whose five doors is a Porta Santa. At the end, is appropriately placed an ancient marble statue of Constantine, who is in the dress of a Roman warrior, bearing the labarum, or standard of the cross, which is here represented as a lance surmounted by the monogram of Christ. From this portico we look down upon one of the most beautiful and characteristic views in Rome. On one side are the Alban Hills, blue in morning, or purple in evening light, sprinkled with white villages of historic interest—Albano, Rocca di Papa, Marino, Frescati, Colonna; on the other side are the Sabine Mountains, tipped with snow; in the middle distance the long, golden-hued lines of aqueducts stretch away over the plain, till they are lost in the pink haze, and nearer still are the desolate basilica of Santa Croce, the fruit gardens of the Villa Wolkonski, interspersed with rugged fragments of massive brickwork, and the glorious old walls of the city itself. The road at our feet is the Via Appia Nuova, which leads to Naples, and which immediately passes through the modern gate of Rome, known as the Porta San Giovanni (built in the sixteenth century by Gregory XIII.). Nearer to us, on the right, is an ancient gateway, the finest on the Aurelian wall, bricked up by Ladislaus, king of Naples, in 1408. By this gate, known as the Porta Asinaria, from the family of the Asinarii, Belisarius entered Rome in 505, and Totila, through the treachery of the Isaurian Guard, in 546. Here also, in 1084, Henry IV. entered Rome against Hildebrand with his anti-pope Guibert; and, a few years after, the name of the gate itself was changed to Porta Perusta, in consequence of the injuries it received from Robert Guiscard, who came to the rescue of the lawful pontiff.

The broad open space which we see beneath the steps was the favourite walk of the mediæval popes.

"The splendid palace of the Lateran reflected the rays of the evening sun, as Francis of Assisi with two or three of his disciples approached it to obtain the papal sanction for the rules of his new Order. A group of churchmen in sumptuous apparel were traversing with slow and measured steps its lofty terrace, then called 'the Mirror,' as if afraid to overtake him who preceded them, in a dress studiously simple, and with a countenance wrapped in earnest meditation. Unruffled by passion, and yet elate with conscious power, that eagle eye, and those capacious brows, announced him the lord of a dominion which might have satisfied the pride of Diogenes, and the ambition of Alexander. Since the Tugurium was built on the Capitoline, no greater monarch had ever called the seven hills his own. But, in his pontificate, no era had occurred more arduous than that in which Innocent III. saw the mendicants of Assisi prostrate at his feet. The interruption was as unwelcome as it was abrupt; as he gazed at the squalid dress and faces of his suitors, and observed their bare and unwashed feet, his lip curled with disdain, and sternly commanding them to withdraw, he seemed again to retire from the outer world into some of the deep recesses of that capacious mind. Francis and his companions betook themselves to prayer; Innocent to his couch. There (says the legend) he dreamed that a palm-tree sprouted up from the ground beneath his feet, and, swiftly shooting up into the heavens, cast her boughs on every side, a shelter from the heat, and a refreshment to the weary. The vision of the night dictated the policy of the morning, and assured Innocent that, under his fostering care, the Franciscan palm would strike deep her roots, and expand her foliage on every side, in the vineyard of the Church."—Stephens' St. Francis of Assisi.

The western façade of the basilica, built by Alessandro Galilei in 1734, has a fine effect at a distance, but the statues of Christ and the apostles which line its parapet are too large for its proportions.

The ancient Palace of the Lateran was the residence of the popes for nearly 1000 years. Almost all the events affecting the private lives of a vast line of ecclesiastical sovereigns happened within its walls. Plundered in each successive invasion, stricken with malaria during the autumn months, and often partially burnt, it was finally destroyed by the great enemy of Roman antiquities, Sixtus V. Among the scenes which occurred within its walls, perhaps the most terrible was that when John X., the completer of the Lateran basilica, was invaded here by Marozia, who was beginning to seize the chief power in Rome, and who carried the pope off prisoner to St. Angelo, after he had seen his brother Peter murdered before his eyes in the hall of the pontifical palace.

The only remnants preserved of this famous building are the private chapel of the popes, and the end wall of their dining-hall, known as the Triclinium, which contains a copy, erected by Benedict XIV., of the ancient mosaic of the time of Leo III. which formerly existed here, and the remains of which are preserved in the Vatican.

"In this mosaic, Hallam (Middle Ages) sees proof that the authority of the Greek Emperor was not entirely abrogated at Rome till long after the period of papal aggrandisement by Pepin and his son, but he is warranted by no probabilities in concluding that Constantine V., whose reign began A.D. 780, is intended by the emperor kneeling with St. Peter or Pope Sylvester."—Hemans' Ancient Christian Art.

Professor Bryce finds two paintings in which the theory of the mediæval empire is unmistakeably set forth; one of them in Rome, the other in Florence, (a fresco in the chapter-house of S. M. Novella).

"The first of these is the famous mosaic of the Lateran triclinium, constructed by Pope Leo III., about A.D. 800, and an exact copy of which, made by the order of Sixtus V., may still be seen over against the facade of St. John Lateran. Originally meant to adorn the state banqueting-hall of the popes, it is now placed in the open air, in the finest situation in Rome, looking from the brow of a hill across the green ridges of the Campagna to the olive groves of Tivoli and the glistering crags and snow-capped summits of the Umbrian and Sabine Apennine. It represents in the centre Christ surrounded by the apostles, whom He is sending forth to preach the gospel; one hand is extended to bless, the other holds a book with the words 'Pax vobis.' Below and to the right Christ is depicted again, and this time sitting: on His right hand kneels Pope Sylvester, on His left the Emperor Constantine; to the one He gives the keys of heaven and hell, to the other a banner surmounted by a cross. In the group on the opposite, that is, on the left side of the arch, we see the Apostle Peter seated, before whom in like manner kneel Pope Leo III. and Charles the Emperor; the latter wearing, like Constantine, his crown. Peter, himself grasping the keys, gives to Leo the pallium of an archbishop, to Charles the banner of the Christian army. The inscription is 'Beatus Petrus dona vitam Leoni P. Pet victoriam Carulo regi dona;' while round the arch is written, 'Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax omnibus bonæ voluntatis.'

"The order and nature of the ideas here symbolized is sufficiently clear. First comes the revelation of the gospel, and the divine commission to gather all men into its fold. Next, the institution, at the memorable era of Constantine's conversion, of the two powers by which the Christian people is to be respectively taught and governed. Thirdly, we are shown the permanent Vicar of God, the apostle who keeps the keys of heaven and hell, re-establishing these same powers on a new and firmer basis. The badge of ecclesiastical supremacy he gives to Leo as the spiritual head of the faithful on earth, the banner of the Church militant to Charles, who is to maintain her cause against heretics and infidels."—J. Bryce, Holy Roman Empire, ch. vii. pp. 117, 118, 3rd ed., 1871.

In the building behind the Triclinium, attached to a convent of Passionist monks, and erected by Fontana for Sixtus V., is preserved the Santa Scala. This famous staircase, supposed to be that of the house of Pilate, ascended and descended by our Saviour, is said to have been brought from Jerusalem by Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, and has been regarded with especial reverence by the Roman Church for 1500 years. In 897 it was injured and partially thrown down by an earthquake, but was re-erected in the old Lateran palace, whence it was removed to its present site on the demolition of that venerable building. Clement XII. caused the steps to be covered by a wooden casing, which has since been repeatedly worn out by the knees of ascending pilgrims. Apertures are left, through which the marble steps can be seen; two of them are said to be stained with the blood of the Saviour!

At the foot of the stairs, within the atrium, are fine sculptures of Giacometti, representing the "Ecce Homo,"—and the "Kiss of Judas," purchased and placed here by Pius IX.

Between these statues the pilgrims kneel to commence the ascent of the Santa Scala. The effect of the staircase (especially on Fridays in Lent, and most of all on Good Friday), with the figures ascending on their knees in the dim light, and the dark vaulted ceiling covered with faded frescoes, is exceedingly picturesque.

"Reason may condemn, but feeling cannot resist the claim to reverential sympathy in the spectacle daily presented by the Santa Scala. Numerous indulgences have been granted by different popes to those who ascend it with prayer at each step. Whilst kneeling upon these stairs public penance used to be performed in the days of the Church's more rigorous discipline; as the saintly matron Fabiola there appeared a penitent before the public gaze, in sackcloth and ashes, A.D. 390.... There is no day on which worshippers may not be seen slowly ascending those stairs; but it is during Holy Week the concourse is at its height; and on Good Friday I have seen this structure completely covered by the multitude, like a swarm of bees settling on flowers!"—Hemans' Ancient Sacred Art.

"Brother Martin Luther went to accomplish the ascent of the Santa Scala—the Holy Staircase—which once, they say, formed part of Pilate's house. He slowly mounted step after step of the hard stone, worn into hollows by the knees of penitents and pilgrims. An indulgence for a thousand years—indulgence from penance—is attached to this act of devotion. Patiently he crept half-way up the staircase, when he suddenly stood erect, lifted his face heavenward, and, in another moment, turned and walked slowly down again.

"He said that, as he was toiling up, a voice as if from heaven, seemed to whisper to him the old, well-known words, which had been his battle-cry in so many a victorious combat,—'The just shall live by faith.'

"He seemed awakened, as if from a nightmare, and restored to himself. He dared not creep up another step; but, rising from his knees, he stood upright, like a man suddenly loosed from bonds and fetters, and with the firm step of a freeman, he descended the staircase, and walked from the place."—Schönberg-Cotta Chronicles.

"Did the feet of the Saviour actually tread these steps? Are these reliques really portions of his cross, crown of thorns, &c., or is all this fictitious? To me it is all one.

"'He is not here, he is risen!' said the angel at the tomb. The worship of the bodily covering which the spirit has cast off belongs to the soul still in the larva condition; and the ascending of the Scala Santa on the knees is too convenient a mode for obtaining the forgiveness of sins, and at the same time a hindrance upon the only true way."—Frederika Bremer.

Ascending one of the lateral staircases—no foot must touch the Santa Scala—we reach the outside of the Sancta Sanctorum, a chapel held so intensely sacred that none but the pope can officiate at its altar, and that it is never open to others, except on the morning before Palm Sunday, when the canons of the Lateran come hither to worship, in solemn procession, with torches and a veiled crucifix, and, even then, none but the clergy are allowed to pass its threshold. The origin of the sanctuary is lost in antiquity, but it was the private chapel of the mediæval popes in the old palace, and is known to have existed already, dedicated to St. Laurence, in the time of Pelagius I. (578—590), who deposited here some relics of St. Andrew and St. Luke. It was restored by Honorius III. in 1216, and almost rebuilt by Nicholas III. in 1277.

It is permitted to gaze through a grating upon the picturesque glories of the interior, which are chiefly of the thirteenth century. The altar is in a recess, supported by two porphyry columns. Above it a beautiful silver tabernacle, presented by Innocent III. (1198-1216), to contain the great relic, which invests the chapel with its peculiar sanctity,—a portrait of our Saviour (placed here by Stephen III. in 752), held by the Roman Church as authentic,—to have been begun by St. Luke and finished by an angel, whence the name by which it is known, "Acheirotopeton," or, the "picture made without hands."

"The different theories as to the acheirotopeton picture, and the manner in which it reached this city, are stated with naïveté by Maroni—i.e., that the apostles and the Madonna, meeting after the ascension, resolved to order a portrait of the Crucified, for satisfying the desire of the faithful, and commissioned St. Luke to execute the task; that after three days' prayer and fasting, such a portrait was drawn in outline by that artist, but, before he had begun to colour, the tints were found to have been filled in by invisible hands; that this picture was brought from Jerusalem to Rome, either by St. Peter, or by Titus (together with the sacred spoils of the temple); or else expedited hither in a miraculous voyage of only twenty-four hours by S. Germanus, patriarch of Constantinople, who desired thus to save such a treasure from the outrages of the Iconoclasts; and that, about A.D. 726, Pope Gregory II., apprised of its arrival at the mouth of the Tiber by revelation, proceeded to carry it thence, with due escort, to Rome; since which advent it has remained in the Sancta Sanctorum."—Hemans' Mediæval Christian Art.

Above the altar is, in gilt letters, the inscription, "non est in tota sanctior urbe locus." Higher up, under gothic arches, and between twisted columns, are pictures of sainted popes and martyrs, but these have been so much retouched as to have lost their interest. The gratings here are those of the relic chamber, which contains the reputed sandals of Our Saviour, fragments of the true cross, &c. On the ceiling is a grand mosaic,—a head of Our Saviour within a nimbus, sustained by six-winged seraphim—ascribed to the eighth century. The sill in front of the screen is covered with money, thrown in as offerings by the pilgrims.

The chapel was once much larger. Its architect was probably Deodatus Cosmati. An inscription near the door tells us, "Magister Cosmatus fecit hoc opus."

Here, in the time when the Lateran palace was inhabited, the feet of twelve sub-deacons were annually washed by the pope on Holy Thursday. On the Feast of the Assumption the sacred picture used to be borne in triumph through the city, halting in the Forum, where the feet of the pope were washed in perfumed waters on the steps of Sta. Maria Nuova, and the "Kyrie Eleison" was chaunted a hundred times. This custom was abolished by Pius V. in 1566.

The Modern Palace of the Lateran was built from designs of Fontana by Sixtus V. In 1693 Innocent XII. turned it into a hospital,—in 1438 Gregory XVI. appropriated it as a museum. The entrance faces the obelisk in the Piazza di San Giovanni. The palace is always shown, but the terrible cold which pervades it makes it a dangerous place except in the late spring months, and a visit to it is often productive of fever.

The ground floor is the principal receptacle for antiquities, found at Rome within the last few years. It contains a number of very beautiful sarcophagi and bas-reliefs.

Entering under the corridor on the right, the most remarkable objects are:—

1st Room.—

LEFT WALL:

Relief of the Abduction of Helen.

RIGHT WALL:

High relief of two pugilists, 'Dares and Entellus.'

Grand relief of Trajan followed by senators, from the Forum of Trajan.

The sacred oak of Jupiter, with figures.

Bust of Marcus Aurelius.

2nd Room.—

Beautiful architectural fragments, chiefly from the Forum of Trajan.

3rd Room.—

ENTRANCE WALL:

Statue of Æsculapius.

RIGHT WALL:

Statue of Antinous, called the Braschi, found at Palestrina.

Bought from the Braschi family by Gregory XVI for 12,000 scudi.

WALL OF EGRESS:

Sarcophagus of a child, with a relief representing pugilists.

4th Room.—

ENTRANCE WALL:

Greek relief of Medea and the daughters of Peleus.

Above (one of a number of busts), 762. Beautiful head of a Dryad.

Statue of Germanicus.

RIGHT WALL:

Statue of Mars.

WALL OF EGRESS:

Copy of the Faun of Praxiteles.

IN THE CENTRE:

A fine vase of Lumachella.

A passage is crossed to the

5th Room.—

IN THE CENTRE:

1. Sacrifice of Mithras.

2. A stag of basalt.

3. A cow.

RIGHT WALL:

Sepulchral urn, with a curious relief representing children and cock-fighting.

6th Room.—

An interesting collection of statues, from Cervetri (Cære), including those of Tiberius and Claudius; between them Agrippina, sixth wife of Claudius,—and others less certain.

BETWEEN THE WINDOWS:

Drusilla, sister of Claudius, and, on the wall, part of her epitaph.

7th Room.—

RIGHT WALL:

Faun dancing,—found near Sta. Lucia in Selce.

FACING THE ENTRANCE:

A grand statue of Sophocles (the gem of the collection), found at Terracina, 1838. Given by the Antonelli family.

"Sophocle, dans une pose aisée et fière, un pied en avant, un bras enveloppé dans son manteau qu'il serre contre son corps, contemple avec une majestueuse sérénité la nature humaine et la domine d'un regard sûr et tranquille."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 573.

8th Room.—

Statue of Neptune, from Porto—the legs and arms restored.

9th Room.—

Architectural fragments from the Via Appia and Forum.

10th Room.—

A series of interesting reliefs, found 1848, at the tomb of the Aterii at Centocellæ, representing the preparations for the funeral solemnities of a great Roman lady.

ENTRANCE WALL:

The building of the sepulchre. A curious machine for raising heavy stones is introduced.

RIGHT WALL:

The body of the dead surrounded by burning torches, the mourners tearing their hair and beating their breasts.

WALL OF EGRESS:

Showing several Roman buildings which the funeral procession would pass,—among them the Coliseum and the Arch of Titus—inscribed, "Arcus in sacra via summa."

Signor Rosa has considered this last relief of great importance, as indicating by the different monuments the route which a well-ordered funeral procession ought to pursue.

A second passage is crossed to the

11th Room.—

Containing several fine sarcophagi.

12th Room.—

ENTRANCE WALL:

Sarcophagus, with the story of Orestes.

RIGHT WALL:

Sarcophagus decorated with Cupids bearing garlands, and supporting a head of Augustus.

WALL OF EGRESS:

Sarcophagus representing the destruction of the children of Niobe.

13th Room.—

ENTRANCE WALL:

Statue of C. Lælius Saturninus.

IN THE CENTRE:

Sarcophagus of P. Cæcilius Vallianus, representing a funeral banquet.

LEFT WALL:

Unfinished statue of a captive barbarian, with sculptor's marks remaining, to guide the workman's chisel.

15th Room.—

This and the next room are devoted to objects recently found in the excavations at Ostia.

LEFT WALL:

Mosaic in a niche.

16th Room.—

IN THE CENTRE:

Reclining statue of Atys.

RIGHT WALL:

Frescoes of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, from a tomb at Ostia.

The Christian Museum, founded by Pius IX., and arranged by Padre Marchi and the Cavaliere Rossi, is of great interest. In the first hall is a statue of Christ by Sosnowsky, and in the wall behind it three mosaics,—two from the catacombs, that in the centre—of Christ with SS. Peter and Paul—from the old St. Peter's. Hence we ascend a staircase lined with Christian sarcophagi. At the foot are two statues of the Good Shepherd.

"Une des compositions de Calamis ne doit pas être oubliée à Rome, car ce sujet païen a été adopté par l'art chrétien des premiers temps. Les représentations du Bon Pasteur rapportant la brebis, expressions touchante de la miséricorde divine, ont leur origine dans le Mercure porte-bélier (Criophore). Quelquefois c'est un berger qui porte un bélier, une brebis ou un agneau; l'on se rapproche ainsi a l'idée du bon pasteur. En général, le bon pasteur, dans les monuments chrétiens, porte une brebis, la brebis égarée de l'Évangile; mais quelquefois aussi il porte un bélier; et alors le souvenir de l'original païen dans la composition chrétienne est manifeste."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 256.

The sarcophagus on the left, which tells the story of Jonah, is especially fine. The corridor above is also lined with sarcophagi. The best are on the left; of these the most remarkable are, the 1st, the marriage at Cana; 4th, the Good Shepherd repeated several times among vines, with cherubs gathering the grapes; 7th, a sarcophagus with a canopy supported by two pavonazzetto columns, and on the wall behind, frescoes of the Good Shepherd, &c. At the raised end of the corridor is the seated statue of Hippolytus, Bishop of Porto in the third century (the upper part a restoration), found in the Catacomb of Sta. Cyriaca, and moved hither from the Vatican Library; upon the chair is engraved the celebrated Paschal Calendar, which is supposed to settle the unorthodoxy of those early Christians who kept Easter at the same time as the Jews.

Hence, three rooms lined with drawings from the paintings in the different catacombs, lead to,—

THE PICTURE GALLERY.

1st Room.—

class="hang"ENTRANCE WALL:

Cartoon of stoning of Stephen: Giulio Romano.

Below this is the celebrated mosaic called Asarotos, representing an unswept floor after a banquet. It is inscribed with the name of its artist, Heraclitus, but is a copy from one of the two famous mosaics of Sosus of Pergamus (the other is "Pliny's Doves"). It was found on the Aventine in 1833 in the gardens of Servilius, and "probably adorned a dining-room where Cæsar may have supped with Servilia, the sister of Cato, and mother of Brutus." A similar pavement is alluded to by Statius:—

"Varias ubi picta per artes

Gaudet humus superare novis asarota figuris."

Sylv. i. 3, 55.

LEFT WALL:

Christ and St Thomas—a cartoon: Camuccini.

WINDOW WALL:

The first sketch for the famous fresco of the Descent from the

Cross at the Trinità de' Monti: Daniele da Volterra.

On the right is the entrance of the

2nd Room.—

class="hang"ENTRANCE WALL:

Annunciation: Cav. d' Arpino.

RIGHT WALL:

George IV. of England (most strangely out of place): Lawrence.

WALL OF EGRESS:

Assumption of the Virgin: After Guercino.

From the corner of this room, on the right, a staircase leads to a gallery, whence one may look down upon the huge and hideous mosaic pavement—with portraits of twenty-eight athletes—found in the Baths of Caracalla in 1822.

"Les gladiateurs de la mosaïque de Saint Jean de Latran ont reçu la forte alimentation qu'on donnait à leurs pareils; ils ont bien cet air de résolution brutale que devaient avoir ceux qui prononçaient ce féroce serment que nous a conservé Pétrone: 'Nous jurons d'obéir à nôtre maître Eumolpe, qu'il nous ordonne de nous laisser brûler, enchaîner, frapper, tuer par le fer ou autrement; et comme vrais gladiateurs, nous dévouons à notre maître nos corps et nos vies.'"—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iv. 33.

On the left of 1st room is the

3rd Room.—

ENTRANCE WALL:

Madonna with SS. Peter, Dominic, and Anthony on the right, and SS. John Baptist, Laurence, and Francis on the left: Marco Palmezzano di Forli, 1537.

IN THE LEFT CORNER:

Madonna and Saints: Carlo Crivelli, 1482.

LEFT WALL:

St. Thomas receiving the girdle of the Virgin (the Sacra Cintola of Prato)—with a predella: Benozzo Gozzoli.

WALL OF EGRESS:

Madonna with St. John Baptist and St. Jerome: Palmezzano.

4th Room.—

ENTRANCE WALL:

Sixtus V. as Cardinal: Sassoferrato.

Madonna: Carlo Crivelli, 1482—very highly finished.

LEFT WALL:

Sixtus V. as Pope: Domenichino(?).

Two Gobelins from pictures of Fra Bartolommeo at the Quirinal.

WALL OF EGRESS:

Christ with the Tribute Money: Caravaggio.

5th Room.—

ENTRANCE WALL:

Entombment: Venetian School.

LEFT WALL:

Greek Baptism: Pietro Nocchi, 1840.

WALL OF EGRESS:

Holy Family: Andrea del Sarto.

6th Room.—

ENTRANCE WALL:

Baptism of Christ: Cesare da Sesto.

LEFT WALL:

SS. Agnes and Emerentiana: Luca Signorelli; Annunciation: F. Francia; SS. Laurence and Benedict (very peculiar, as scarcely showing their faces at all, but magnificent in colour): Luca Signorelli.

WALL OF EGRESS:

Coronation of the Virgin, with wings, of saints, angels, and doves: F. Filippo Lippi.

BETWEEN THE WINDOWS: S. Jerome, in tempera: Giovanni Sanzio, father of Raphael.

7th Room.—

ENTRANCE WALL:

Pagan sacrifice: Caravaggio (?).

LEFT WALL:

Altar-piece by Antonio da Murano, 1464.

WALL OF EGRESS:

Christ at Emmaus: Caravaggio.

8th Room.—

An oil copy of the fresco of the Flagellation of St. Andrew by Domenichino, at S. Gregorio.

9th Room.—

A set of beautiful terracotta busts and reliefs by Pettrich, illustrative of North American Indian life. This room is called the Hall of Council, and is surrounded by fresco portraits of popes, and pictures allegorical of their arms, &c.

The walls of the open galleries on this floor of the palace have been covered with early Christian inscriptions from the catacombs, which have been thus arranged in arches:—

1—3. Epitaphs of martyrs and others of temp. Damasus I. (366 to 384).

4—7. Dated inscriptions from 238 to 557.

8—9. Inscriptions relating to doctrine.

10.—Inscriptions relating to popes, presbyters, and deacons.

11—12. Inscriptions relating to simple ecclesiastics.

13.—Inscriptions of affection to relations and friends.

14—16. Symbolical.

17.—Simple epitaphs from different catacombs.

On the third floor of the palace are casts from the bas-reliefs on the column of Trajan.

Before leaving the Lateran altogether, we must notice amongst its early institutions, the famous school of music which existed here throughout the middle ages.

"Gregory the Great, whose object it seems to have been to render religion a thing of the senses, was the founder of the music of the Church. He instituted the school for it in the Lateran, whence the Carlovingian monarchs obtained teachers of singing and organ-playing. The Frankish monks were sent thither for instruction."—Dyer's Hist. of the City of Rome.

Opposite the palace is the entrance of the Villa Massimo Arsoli, to which admission may be obtained by a permesso given at the Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne. There is little to see here, however, except a casino beautifully decorated with scenes taken from the great Italian poets by the modern German artists, Schnorr, Kock, Ph. Veit, Overbeck, and Führich.

"Les sujets sont tirés de Dante, de l'Arioste, et du Tasse. Dante a été confide à Cornélius, l'Arioste à Schnorr, le Tasse à Overbeck, les trois plus célèbres noms de cette école qui croit pouvoir remonter par une imitation savante à la naïveté du XVe. siècle."—Ampère, Voyage Dantesque.

Leading from the Piazza di San Giovanni to Sta. Maria Maggiore is the Via Immerulana, where, in the hollow, is the strange-looking Church of SS. Pietro e Marcellino, in which is preserved a miraculous painting of the Crucifixion; the figure upon the cross is supposed to move the eyes, when regarded by the faithful. This picture, a small replica of the magnificent Guido at S. Lorenzo in Lucina, is shown, behind a grille, by a nun of Sta. Theresa, veiled from head to foot in blue, like an immovable pillar of blue drapery.

"SS. Pietro e Marcellino stands in the valley behind the Esquiline, in the long, lonely road between Sta. Maria Maggiore and the Lateran. SS. Peter Exorcista and Marcellinus are always represented together in priestly habits, bearing their palms. Their legend relates, that in the persecution under Diocletian they were cast into prison. Artemius, keeper of the dungeon, had a daughter named Paulina, and she fell sick; and St. Peter offered to restore her to health, if her father would believe in the true God. And the jailer mocked him, saying, 'If I put thee into the deepest dungeon, and load thee with heavier chains, will thy God deliver thee? If he doth, I will believe in him.' And Peter answered, 'Be it so, not out of regard to thee; for it matters little to our God whether such an one as thou believe in him or not, but that the name of Christ may be glorified, and thyself confounded.'

"And in the middle of the night Peter and Marcellinus, in white shining garments, entered the chamber of Artemius as he lay asleep, who, being struck with awe, fell down and worshipped the name of Christ; and he, his wife, daughter, and three hundred others, were baptized. After this the two holy men were condemned to die for the faith, and the executioner was ordered to lead them to a forest three miles from Rome, that the Christians might not discover their place of sepulture. And when he had brought them to a solitary thicket overgrown with brambles and thorns, he declared to them that they were to die, upon which they cheerfully fell to work and cleared away a space fit for the purpose, and dug the grave in which they were to be laid. Then they were beheaded (June 2), and died encouraging each other.

"The fame of SS. Pietro e Marcellino is not confined to Rome. In the reign of Charlemagne they were venerated as martyrs throughout Italy and Gaul; and Eginhard, the secretary of Charlemagne who married his daughter Emma, is said to have held them in particular honour. Every one, I believe, knows the beautiful story of Eginhard and Emma,—and the connection of these saints with them, as their chosen protectors, lends an interest to their solitary deserted church. In the Roma Sotterranea of Bosio, p. 126, there is an ancient fragment found in the catacombs, which represents St. Peter Exorcista, St. Marcellinus, and Paulina, standing together."—Mrs. Jameson.

Behind the Santa Scala, a narrow lane leads to the Villa Wolkonski (a "permesso" may be obtained through your banker), a most beautiful garden, running along the edge of the hill, intersected by the broken arches of the Aqua Claudia, and possessing exquisite views over the Campagna, with its lines of aqueducts to the Alban and Sabine mountains. No one should omit to visit this villa.

"Where the aqueducts, just about to enter the city, most nearly converge, and looking across the Campagna—which their arches only seem able to span—towards Albano and the hills, stands the Villa. Embosomed in olive and in ilex trees, it is rich in hoar cypresses, in urns, and in those pathetic fragments of old workmanship which an undergrowth of violets and acanthus half hides, and half reveals."—Vera.

About a mile beyond the Porta S. Giovanni, a road branches off on the left to the Porta Furba, an arch of the Aqua Felice, founded on the line of the Claudian and Marcian aqueducts. Artists may find a picturesque subject here in a pretty fountain, with a portion of the decaying aqueduct. Beyond the arch is the mound called Monte del Grano, which has been imagined to be the burial-place of Alexander Severus. Beyond this, the road (to Frescati) passes on the left the vast ruins, called Sette Bassi.

The direct road—which leads to Albano—reaches, about two miles from the gate, a queer building, called the Casa del Diavolo, on the outside of which some rude frescoes testify to the popular belief as to its owner. Just beyond this a field track on the left leads to the Via Latina, of which a certain portion, paved with huge polygonal blocks of lava, is now laid bare. Here are some exceedingly interesting and well-preserved tombs, richly ornamented with painting and stucco. The view, looking back upon Rome, or forward to the long line of broken arches of the Claudian aqueduct, seen between these ruined sepulchres, is most striking and beautiful.

Close by have been discovered remains of a villa of the Servilii, which afterwards belonged to the Asinarii. Here also, in 1858 (on the left of the Via Latina), Signor Fortunati discovered the long buried and forgotten Basilica of S. Stefano. It is recorded by Anastasius that this basilica was founded in the time of Leo I. (440—461) by Demetria, a lady who escaped from the siege by the Goths, with her mother, to Carthage, where she became a nun. It was restored by Leo III. at the end of the eighth century. The remains are interesting, though they do little more than show perfectly the substruction and plan of the ancient building. An inscription relating to the foundation of the church by Demetria has been found among the ruins.

Not far from this is the Catacomb of the Santi-Quattro.

Three and a half miles from Rome is the Osteria of Tavolato, near which is one of the most striking and picturesque portions of the Claudian Aqueduct. It is on the rising ground between this aqueduct and the road, that the Temple of Fortuna Muliebris is believed to have stood. This was the temple which Valeria, the sister of Publicola, and Volumnia, the mother of Coriolanus, claimed to erect at their own expense, when the senate asked them to choose their recompense for having preserved Rome by their entreaties.

"As Valeria, sister of Publicola, was sitting in the temple, as a suppliant before the image of Jupiter, Jupiter himself seemed to inspire her with a sudden thought, and she immediately rose, and called upon all the other noble ladies who were with her, to arise also, and she led them to the house of Volumnia, the mother of Caius (Coriolanus). There she found Virgilia, the wife of Caius, with his mother, and also his little children. Valeria then addressed Volumnia and Virgilia, and said, 'Our coming here to you is our own doing; neither the senate nor any mortal man have sent us; but the god in whose temple we were sitting as suppliants put it into our hearts, that we should come and ask you to join with us, women with women, without any aid of men, to win for our country a great deliverance, and for ourselves a name, glorious above all women, even above those Sabine wives in the old time, who stopped the battle between their husbands and their fathers. Come, then, with us to the camp of Caius, and let us pray to him to show us mercy.' Volumnia said, 'We will go with you:' and Virgilia took her young children with her, and they all went to the camp of the enemy.

"It was a sad and solemn sight to see this train of noble ladies, and the very Volscian soldiers stood in silence as they passed by, and pitied them and honoured them. They found Caius sitting on the general's seat, in the midst of the camp, and the Volscian chiefs were standing round him. When he first saw them he wondered what it could be; but presently he knew his mother, who was walking at the head of the train, and then he could not contain himself, but leapt down from his seat, and ran to meet her, and was going to kiss her. But she stopped him, and said, 'Ere thou kiss me, let me know whether I am speaking to an enemy or to my son; whether I stand in thy camp as thy prisoner or thy mother?' Caius could not answer her; and then she went on and said, 'Must it be, then, that had I never borne a son, Rome never would have seen the camp of an enemy; that had I remained childless, I should have died a free woman in a free city? But I am too old to bear much longer either thy shame or my misery. Rather look to thy wife and children, whom, if thou persistest, thou art dooming to an untimely death, or a long life of bondage.' Then Virgilia and his children came up to him and kissed him, and all the noble ladies wept, and bemoaned their own fate and the fate of their country. At last Caius cried out, 'O mother, what hast thou done to me?' and he wrung her hand vehemently, and said, 'Mother, thine is the victory; a happy victory for thee and for Rome, but shame and ruin to thy son.' Then he fell on her neck and embraced her, and he embraced his wife and his children, and sent them back to Rome; and led away the army of the Volscians, and never afterwards attacked Rome any more. The Romans, as was right, honoured Volumnia and Valeria for their deed, and a temple was built and dedicated to 'Woman's Fortune' just on the spot where Caius had yielded to his mother's words; and the first priestess of the temple was Valeria, into whose heart Jupiter had first put the thought to go to Volumnia, and to call upon her to go out to the enemy's camp and entreat her son."—Arnold's Hist. of Rome, vol. i.

"Il y a peu de scènes dans l'histoire plus émouvantes que celle-là, et elle ne perd rien à la décoration du théâtre; en se plaçant sur un tertre à quatre milles de Rome, près de la voie Latine, dans un lieu où il n'y a aujourd'hui que des tombeaux et des ruines, on peut se figurer le camp des Volsques, dont les armes et les tentes étincellent au soleil. Les montagnes s'élèvent à l'horizon. A travers la plaine ardente et poudreuse défile une foule voilée dont les gémissements retentissent dans le silence de la campagne romaine. Bientôt Coriolan est entouré de cette multitude suppliante dont les plaintes, les cris, devaient avoir la vivacité des démonstrations passionées des Romaines de nos jours. Coriolan eût ré sisté à tout ce bruit, il eût peut-être résisté aux larmes de sa femme et aux caresses de ses enfants; il ne résista pas à la sévérité de sa mère.

"Le soir, par un glorieux coucher du soleil de Rome qui éclaire leur joie, la procession triomphante s'éloigne en adressant un chant de reconnaissance aux dieux, et lui se retire dans sa tente, étonné d'avoir pu céder."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. ii. 402.

The return drive to Rome may be varied by turning to the right about a mile beyond this, into a lane which leads past the so-called temple of Bacchus to the Via Appia Vecchia.

We may now follow the lines of white mulberry-trees across the open space in front of St. John Lateran, which is a continuation of the ancient papal promenade of "the Mirror," to Sta. Croce. The sister basilicas look at each other, and at Sta. Maria Maggiore, down avenues of trees. On the left are the walls of Rome, upon which run the arches of the Aqua Marcia.

"Few Roman churches are set within so impressive a picture as Santa Croce, approached on every side through these solitudes of vineyards and gardens, quiet roads, and long avenues of trees, that occupy such immense extent within the walls of Rome. The scene from the Lateran, looking towards this basilica across the level common, between lines of trees, with the distance of Campagna and mountains, the castellated walls, the arcades of the Claudian aqueduct, amid gardens and groves, is more than beautiful, full of memory and association. The other approach, by the unfrequented Via di Sta. Croce, presents the finest distances, seen through a foliage beyond the dusky towers of the Honorian walls, and a wide extent of slopes covered with vineyards, amid which stand at intervals some of those forlorn cottage farms, grey and dilapidated, that form characteristic features in Roman scenery. The majestic ruins of Minerva-Medica, the so-called temple of Venus and Cupid, the fragments of the Baths of St. Helena, the Castrense Amphitheatre, the arches of the aqueduct, half concealed in cypress and ivy, are objects which must increase the attractions of a walk to this sanctuary of the cross. But the exterior of the church is disappointing and inappropriate, retaining nothing antique except the square Lombardic tower of the twelfth century, in storeys of narrow-arched windows, its brickwork ornamented with disks of coloured marble, and a canopy, with columns, near the summit, for a statue no longer in its place."—Hemans' Catholic Italy, vol. i.

The site of the Basilica of Sta. Croce in Gerusalemme was once occupied by the garden of Heliogabalus, and afterwards by the palace of the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine, whose residence here was known as the Palatium Sessorianum, whence the name of Sessorian, sometimes given to the basilica.

The church was probably once a hall in the palace of Helena, to which an apse was added by Constantine, in whose reign it was consecrated by Pope Sylvester. It was repaired by Gregory II. early in the eighth century; the monastery was added by Benedict VII. about 975, and the whole was rebuilt by Lucius II. in 1144. The church was completely modernized by Benedict XIV. in the last century, and scarcely anything, except the tower, now remains externally, which is even as old as the twelfth century. The fine columns of granite and bigio-lumachellato, which now adorn the façade, were plundered from the neighbouring temple in 1744.

The interior of the church is devoid of beauty, owing to modernizations. Four out of twelve fine granite columns, which divided its nave and aisles, are boxed up in senseless plaster piers. The high altar is adorned with an urn of green basalt, sculptured with lions' heads, which contains the bodies of SS. Anastasius and Cæsarius. Two of the pillars of the baldacchino are of breccia-corallina. The fine frescoes of the tribune by Pinturicchio have been much retouched. They were executed under Alexander VI., on a commission from Cardinal Carvajal, who is himself represented as kneeling before the cross, which is held by the Empress Helena.

"The very important frescoes of the choir apsis of Sta. Croce (now much over-painted) are of Pinturicchio's better time. They represent the finding of the Cross, with a colossal Christ in a nimbus among angels above,—a figure full of wild grandeur."—Kugler.

"Near the entrance of the church is a valuable monument of the papal history of the tenth century, in a metrical epitaph to Benedict VII., recording his foundation of the adjoining monastery for monks, who were to sing day and night the praises of the Deity; his charities to the poor; and the deeds of the anti-pope Franco, called by Baronius (with play upon his assumed name Boniface) Malefacius, who usurped the Holy See, imprisoned and strangled the lawful pope, Benedict VI., and pillaged the treasury of St. Peter's, but in one month was turned out and excommunicated, when he fled to Constantinople. The chronology of this epitaph is by the ancient system of Indictions, the death of the pope dated XII. Indiction, corresponding to the year 984: and the Latin style of the tenth century is curiously exemplified in lines relating to the anti-pope:

'Hic primus repulit Franconis spurca superbi

Culmina qui invasit sedis apostolicæ

Qui dominumque suum captum in castro habebat

Carceris interea auctis constrictus in uno

Strangulatus ubi exuerat hominem.'"

Hemans' Catholic Italy.

The consecration of the Golden Rose, formerly sent to foreign princes, used to take place in this church. The principal observances here now are connected with the exhibition of the relics, of which the principal is the Title of the True Cross.

"In 1492, when some repairs were ordered by Cardinal Mendoza, a niche was discovered near the summit of the apse, enclosed by a brick front, inscribed 'Titulus Crucis.' In it was a leaden coffer, containing an imperfect plank of wood, 2 inches thick, 1½ palm long, 1 palm broad. On this, in letters more or less perfect, was the inscription in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, Jesus Nazarene King. It was venerated by Innocent VIII., with the college of cardinals, and enclosed by Mendoza in the silver shrine, where it is exposed three times a year from the balcony. The relics are exposed on the 4th Sunday in Lent. On Good Friday the rites are more impressive here than in any other church, the procession of white-robed monks, and the deep toll of the bell announcing the display of the relics by the mitred abbot, are very solemn, and it is surprising, that while crowds of strangers submit to be crushed in the Sistine, scarcely one visits this ancient basilica on that day."—Hemans' Catholic Italy.

"The list of relics on the right of the apsis of Sta. Croce includes, the finger of St. Thomas Apostle, with which he touched the most holy side of our Lord Jesus Christ; one of the pieces of money with which the Jews paid the treachery of Judas; great part of the veil and of the hair of the most blessed Virgin; a mass of cinders and charcoal, united in the form of a loaf, with the fat of St. Lawrence, martyr; one bottle of the most precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ; another of the milk of the most blessed Virgin; a little piece of the stone where Christ was born; a little piece of the stone where our Lord sate when he pardoned Mary Magdalen; of the stone where our Lord wrote the law, given to Moses on Mount Sinai; of the stone where reposed SS. Peter and Paul; of the cotton which collected the blood of Christ; of the manna which fed the Israelites; of the rod of Aaron, which flourished in the desert; of the relics of the eleven prophets!"—Percy's Romanism.

Two staircases near the tribune lead to the subterranean church, which has an altar with a pietà, and statues of SS. Peter and Paul of the twelfth century. Hence opens the chapel of Sta. Helena,[285] which women (by a perversion especially strange in this case) are never allowed to enter except on the festival of the saint, August 18. It is built upon a soil composed of earth brought by the empress from Palestine. Her statue is over the altar. The vault has mosaics (originally erected under Valentinian III., but restored by Zucchi in 1593) representing, in ovals, a half-length figure of the Saviour; the Evangelists and their symbols; the Finding of the True Cross; SS. Peter and Paul; St. Sylvester, the conservator of the church; and Sta. Helena, with Cardinal Carvajal kneeling before her.

Here the feast of the "Invention of the True Cross" (May 3) is celebrated with great solemnity, when the hymns "Pange Lingua" and "Vexilla Regis" are sung, and the antiphon:—

"O Cross, more glorious than the stars, world famous, beauteous of aspect, holiest of things, which alone wast worthy to sustain the weight of the world: dear wood, dear nails, dear burden, bearing; save those present assembled in thy praise to-day. Alleluia."

And the collect:—

"O God, who by the glorious uplifting of the salvation-bearing cross, hast displayed the miracles of thy passion, grant that by the merit of that life-giving wood, we may attain the suffrages of eternal life, &c."

The adjoining Monastery belongs to the Cistercians. Only part of one wing is ancient. The library formerly contained many curious MSS., but most of these were lost to the basilica, when the collection was removed to the Vatican during the French occupation and the exile of Pius VII.

The garden of the monastery contains the ruin generally known as the Temple of Venus and Cupid, but considered by Dr. Braun to be the Sessorian Basilica or law-court, where the causes of slaves (who were allowed to appeal to no other court) were wont to be heard. Behind the monastery is the Amphitheatrum Castrense, attributed to the time of Nero, when it is supposed to have been erected for the games of two cohorts of soldiers, quartered near here. It is ingrafted into the line of the Honorian walls, and is best seen from the outside of the city. Its arches and pillars, with Corinthian capitals, are all of brick.

(On the left of the Via Sta. Croce, which leads hence to Sta. Maria Maggiore, is the gate of the Villa Altieri, chiefly remarkable for its grand umbrella pine, the finest in the city. Further, on the right, is a tomb of unknown origin, now used as a farm-house and a wine-shop.)

Turning to the right from the basilica, we follow a lane which leads beneath some fine brick arches of an aqueduct of the time of Nero, cited by Ampère,[286] as exemplifying the perfection to which architecture attained in the reign of this emperor, "by the quality of the bricks, and the excellence and small quantity of the cement." These ruins are popularly called the Baths of Sta. Helena.

Passing these arches we find ourselves facing the Porta Maggiore, formed by two arches of the Claudian Aqueduct, formerly known as the Porta Labicana, and Porta Prenestina, of which the former was closed in the time of Honorius, and has never been re-opened. Three inscriptions remain, the first relating to the building of the aqueduct by the Emperor Tiberius Claudius;—the second and third to its restoration by Vespasian and Titus. Above the Aqua Claudia flowed a second stream, the Anio Novus.

Outside the gate, only lately disclosed, upon the removal of constructions of the time of Honorius (the fragments of those worth preserving are placed on the opposite wall), is the Tomb of the Baker Eurysaces, who was also one of the inspectors of aqueducts. The tomb is attributed to the early years of the Empire. Its first storey is surmounted by the inscription: "EST HOC MONUMENTUM MARCEI VERGILEI EVRYSACES PISTORIS REDEMPTORIS APPARET." Its second storey is composed of rows of the mortars used in baking, placed sideways, and supporting a frieze with bas-reliefs telling the story of a baker's work, from the bringing of the corn into the mill to its distribution as bread. In the front of the tomb was formerly a relief of the baker and his wife, with a sarcophagus, and the inscription: "FUIT ATISTIA UXOR MIHEI—FEMINA OPTVMA VEIXSIT—QUOIVS CORPORIS RELIQUIÆ—QUOD SUPERANT SUNT IN—HOC PANARIO." This has been foolishly removed, and is now to be seen upon the opposite wall.

From this gate many pleasant excursions may be taken. The direct road leads to Palestrina by Zagarolo, and at 1½ mile from the gate passes, on the left, Torre Pignatarra, the tomb of Sta. Helena, whence the magnificent porphyry sarcophagus, now in the Vatican, was removed. The name is derived from the pignatte, or earthen pots, used in the building. Beneath it is a catacomb, now closed. The adjoining Catacomb of SS. Pietro e Marcellino contains some well preserved paintings; the most interesting is that of the Divine Lamb on a mound (from which four rivers flow as in the mosaics of the ancient basilicas), with figures of Petrus, Gorgonius, Marcellinus, and Tiburtius. At three miles from the gate the road reaches Centocellæ, whence, near the desolate tower called Torre Pernice, there is a most picturesque view of the aqueduct Aqua Alexandrina, built by Alexander Severus, with a double line of arches crossing the hollow. At five miles, on the right, is the Borghese farm of Torre Nuova, with a fine group of old stone pines.

The road which turns left from the gate leads by the Aqua Bollicante, where the Arvales sang their hymn, to the picturesque ruins of the Torre dei Schiavi, the palace of the Emperors Gordian (A.D. 238), adjoining which are the remains of a round temple of Apollo. This is, perhaps, one of the most striking scenes in the Campagna and—backed by the violet mountains above Tivoli—is a favourite subject with artists.

"Les Gordiens, très-grands personnages, furent de très-petits empereurs. Ils montrent ce qu'était devenu l'aristocratie romaine dégénérée. Le premier, honnête et pusillanime, comme le prouvent son élection et sa mort, était un peu replet et avait dans l'air du visage quelque chose de solennel et de théâtral (pompali vultu). Il aimait et cultivait les lettres. Son fils également se fit quelque réputation en ce genre, grâce surtout à sa bibliothèque de soixante mille volumes; mais il avait d'autres goûts encore que celui des livres: on lui donne jusqu'à vingt-deux concubines en titre, et de chacune d'elles, il eut trois ou quatre enfants. Il menait une vie épicurienne dans ses jardins et sous des ombrages délicieux: c'étaient les jardins et les ombrages d'une villa magnifique que les Gordiens avaient sur la voie Prénestine, et dont Capitolin, au temps duquel elle existait encore, nous a laissé une description détaillée. Le péristyle était formé de deux cents colonnes des marbres les plus précieux, le cipollin, le pavonazetto, le jaune et le rouge antiques. La villa renfermait trois basiliques et les thermes que ceux de Rome surpassaient à peine. Telle était l'opulence d'une habitation privée vers le milieu du troisième siècle de l'empire."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 328.

The road which continues in a straight line from hence passes, on the left, the Torre Tre Teste. The eighth mile-stone is of historic interest, being described by Livy (v. 49) as the spot where the dictator Camillus overtook and exterminated the army of Gauls who were retreating from Rome with the spoils of the Capitol.

At the ninth mile is the Ponte di Nono, a magnificent old bridge with seven lofty arches of lapis-gabinus. This leads (twelve miles from Rome) to the dried-up lake and the ruins of Gabii (Castiglione), including that of the temple of Juno Gabina.

"Quique arva Gabinæ

Junonis, gelidumque Anienem, et roscida rivis

Hernica saxa colunt."

Virgil, Æn. vii. 682.

The road which branches off on the left leads (twelve miles from Rome) to Lunghezza, the fine old castle of the Strozzi family, situated on the little river Osa. Hence a beautiful walk through a wood leads to Castello del Osa, the ruins of the ancient Collatia, so celebrated from the tragedy of Lucretia. Two miles beyond the Torre dei Schiavi, on the left, is the fine castellated farm of Cervaletto, a property of the Borghese. A field road of a mile and half, passing in front of this (practicable for carriages), leads to another fine old castellated farm (five miles from Rome), close to which are the extraordinary Grottoes of Cerbara,—a succession of romantic caves of great size, in the tufa rocks, from which the material of the Coliseum was excavated. Here the "Festa degli Artisti" is held in May, which is well worth seeing,—the artists in costume riding in procession, and holding games, amid these miniature Petra-like ravines. Beyond Cerbara are remains of a villa of Lucius Verus, and, on the bank of the Anio, the romantically-situated castle of Rustica.

From the Porta Maggiore we may follow a lane along the inside of the wall, crossing the railway—whence there is a picturesque view of the temple of Minerva Medica—to The Porta S. Lorenzo, anciently called the Porta Tiburtina (the road to Tivoli passes through it), built in 402, by the Emperors Arcadius and Honorius, on the advice of Stilicho, as we learn from an inscription over the archway of the Marcian, Tepulan, and Julian Aqueducts, now half buried within the later brick gateway.

The road just beyond the gate is connected with the story of the favourite saint of the Roman people.

"When Sta. Francesca Romana had no resource but to beg for the sick under her care, she went to the basilica of S. Lorenzo fuori Mura, where was the station of the day, and seated herself amongst the crowd of beggars, who, according to custom, were there assembled. From the rising of the sun to the ringing of the vesper-bell, she sate there, side by side with the lame, the deformed, and the blind. She held out her hand as they did, gladly enduring, not the semblance, but the reality, of that deep humiliation. When she had received enough wherewith to feed the poor at home, she rose, and entering the old basilica, adored the Blessed Sacrament, and then walked back the long and weary way, blessing God all the while."—Lady G. Fullerton.

A quarter of a mile beyond the gate we come in sight of the church and monastery, but the effect is much spoilt by the hideous modern cemetery, formed since the following description was written:—

"S. Lorenzo is as perfect a picture of a basilica externally, as S. Clemente is internally. Viewing it from a little distance, the whole pile—in its grey reverend dignity—the row of stones indicating the atrium, with an ancient cross in the centre—the portico overshadowing faded frescoes—the shelving roof, the body-wall bulging out and lapping over, like an Egyptian temple—the detached Lombard steeple—with the magic of sun and shadow, and the background of the Campagna, bounded by the blue mountains of Tivoli—together with the stillness, the repose, interrupted only by the chirp of the grasshopper, and the distant intermitted song of the Contadino—it forms altogether such a scene as painters love to sketch, and poets to re-people with the shadows of past ages; and I open a wider heaven for either fraternity to fly their fancies in, when I add that it was there the ill-fated Peter de Courtenay was crowned Emperor of the East."—Lord Lindsay, Christian Art.

"To St. Laurence was given a crown of glory in heaven, and upon earth eternal and universal praise and fame; for there is scarcely a city or town in all Christendom which does not contain a church or altar dedicated to his honour. The first of these was built by Constantine outside the gates of Rome, on the spot where he was buried; and another was built on the summit of the hill, where he was martyred; besides these, there are at Rome four others; and in Spain the Escurial, and at Genoa the Cathedral."—Mrs. Jameson.

We have already followed St. Laurence to the various spots in Rome connected with his story,—to the green space at the Navicella, where he distributed his alms before the house of St. Cyriaca (in whose catacomb he was first buried); to the basilica in the Palace of the Cæsars, where he was tried and condemned; to S. Lorenzo in Fonte, where he was imprisoned; to S. Lorenzo Pane e Perna, where he died; to S. Lorenzo in Lucina, where his supposed gridiron is preserved; and now we come to his grave, where a grand basilica has arisen around the little oratory, erected by Constantine, which marked his first burial-place in the Catacombs.

The first basilica erected here was built in the end of the sixth century, by Pope Pelagius II., but this was repeatedly enlarged and beautified by succeeding popes, and at length was so much altered in 1216, by Honorius III., that the old basilica became merely the choir or tribune of a larger and more important church. So many other changes have since taken place, that Bunsen remarks upon S. Lorenzo as more difficult of explanation than any other of the Roman churches.

In front of the basilica stands a bronze statue of St. Laurence, upon a tall granite pillar.

The portico is supported by six Ionic columns, four of them spiral. Above these is a mosaic frieze of the thirteenth century. In the centre is the Spotless Lamb, having, on the right, St. Laurence, Honorius III., and another figure; and on the left three heads, two of whom are supposed to be the virgin martyr Sta. Cyriaca, and her mother Tryphœna, buried in the adjoining cemetery. Above this is a very richly decorated marble frieze, boldly relieved with lions' heads. The gable of the church is faced with modern mosaics of saints. Within the portico are four splendid sarcophagi; that on the left of the entrance is adorned with reliefs representing a vintage, with cupids as the vine-gatherers, and contains the remains of Pope Damasus II., who died in 1049, after a reign of only twenty-three days. At the sides of the door are two marble lions. The walls of the portico are covered with a very curious series of frescoes, lately repainted. They represent four consecutive stories.

On the right:—

A holy hermit, living a life of solitude and prayer, heard a rushing noise, and, looking out of his window, saw a troop of demons, who told him that the Emperor Henry II. had just expired, and that they were hurrying to lay claim to his soul. The hermit trembled, and besought them to let him know as they returned how they had succeeded. Some days after, they came back and narrated that when the Archangel was weighing the good and evil deeds of the emperor in his balance, the weight was falling in their favour—when suddenly the roasted St. Laurence appeared, bearing a golden chalice, which the emperor, shortly before his death, had bestowed upon the Church, and cast it into the scale of good deeds, and so turned the balance the other way, but that in revenge they had broken off one of the golden handles of the chalice. And when the hermit heard these things he rejoiced greatly; and the soul of the emperor was saved and he became a canonized saint,—and the devils departed blaspheming.

The order of the frescoes representing this legend is:—

1, 2.

Scenes in the life of Henry II.

3.

The Emperor offers the golden chalice.

4.

A banquet scene.

5.

The hermit discourses with the devils.

6.

The death of Henry II.—1024.

7.

The dispute for the soul of the Emperor.

8.

It is saved by St. Laurence.

The second series represents the whole story of the acts, trial, martyrdom, and burial of St. Laurence; one or two frescoes in this were entirely effaced, and have been added by the restorer. Of the old series were:—

1.

The investiture of St. Laurence as deacon.

2.

St. Laurence washes the feet of poor Christians.

3.

He heals Sta. Cyriaca.

4.

He distributes alms on the Cœlian.

5.

He meets St. Sixtus led to death, and receives his blessing.

6.

He is led before the prefect.

7.

He restores sight to Lucillus.

8.

He is scourged.

9.

He baptizes St. Hippolytus.

11.

He refuses to give up the treasures of the Church.

13, 14, 15.

His burial by St. Hippolytus.

The third series represents the story of St. Stephen, followed by that of the translation of his relics to this basilica.

The relics of St. Stephen were preserved at Constantinople, whither they had been transported from Jerusalem by the Empress Eudoxia, wife of Theodosius II. Hearing that her daughter Eudoxia, wife of Valentinian II., Emperor of the West, was afflicted with a devil, she begged her to come to Constantinople that her demon might be driven out by the touch of the relics. The younger Eudoxia wished to comply,—but the devil refused to leave her, unless St. Stephen was brought to Rome. An agreement was therefore made that the relics of St. Stephen should be exchanged for those of St. Laurence. St. Stephen arrived, and the empress was immediately relieved of her devil, but when the persons who had brought the relics of St. Stephen from Constantinople were about to take those of St. Laurence back with them, they all fell down dead! Pope Pelagius prayed for their restoration to life, which was granted for a short time, to prove the efficacy of prayer, but they all died again ten days after! Thus the Romans knew that it would be criminal to fulfil their promise, and part with the relics of St. Laurence, and the bodies of the two martyrs were laid in the same sarcophagus.

The frescoes in the left wall represent a separate story:—

A holy sacristan arose before the dawn to enjoy solitary prayers before the altars of this church. Once when he was thus employed, he found that he was not alone, and beheld three persons, a priest, a deacon, and sub-deacon, officiating at the altar, and the church around him filled with worshippers, whose faces bore no mortal impress. Tremblingly he drew near to him whom he dreaded the least, and inquired of the deacon, who this company might be. 'The priest whom thou seest is the blessed apostle Peter,' answered the spirit, 'and I am Laurence who suffered cruel torments for the love of my master Christ, upon a Wednesday, which was the day of his betrayal; and in remembrance of my martyrdom we are come to-day to celebrate here the mysteries of the Church; and the sub-deacon who is with us is the first martyr, St. Stephen,—and the worshippers are the apostles, the martyrs, and virgins who have passed with me into Paradise, and have come back hither to do me honour; and of this solemn service thou art chosen as the witness. When it is day, therefore, go to the pope and tell what thou hast seen, and bid him, in my name, to come hither and to celebrate a solemn mass with all his clergy, and to grant indulgences to the faithful.' But the sacristan trembled and said, 'If I go to the pope he will not believe me: give me some visible sign, then, which will show what I have seen.' And St. Laurence ungirt his robe, and giving his girdle to the sacristan, bade him show it in proof of what he told. In the morning the old man related what he had seen to the abbot of the monastery, who bore the girdle to the then pope, Alexander II. The pope accompanied him back to the basilica,—and on their way they were met by a funeral procession, when, to test the powers of the girdle, the pope laid it on the bier, and at once the dead arose and walked. Then all men knew that the sacristan had told what was true, and the pope celebrated mass as he had been bidden, and promised an indulgence of forty years to all who should visit on a Wednesday any church dedicated to St. Laurence.

This story is told in eight pictures:—

1.

The sacristan sees the holy ones.

2.

The Phantom Mass.

3.

The sacristan tells the abbot.

4.

The abbot tells the pope.

5.

The pope consults his cardinals.

6.

The dead is raised by the girdle.

7.

Mass is celebrated at St. Lorenzo, and souls are freed from purgatory by the intercession of the saint.

8.

Prayer is made at the shrine of St. Laurence.

The nave—which is the basilica of Honorius III.—is divided from its side aisles by twenty-two Ionic columns of granite and cipollino. The sixth column on the right has a lizard and a frog amongst the decorations of its capital, which led Winckelmann to the supposition that these columns were brought hither from the Portico of Octavia, because Pliny describes that the architects of the Portico of Metellus, which formerly occupied that site, were two Spartans, named Sauros and Batrachus, who implored permission to carve their names upon their work; and that when leave was refused, they introduced them under this form,—Batrachus signifying a frog, and Sauros a lizard.

Above the architrave are frescoes by Fracassini, of the lives and martyrdoms of SS. Stephen and Laurence. Higher up are saints connected with the history of the basilica. The roof is painted in patterns. The splendid opus-alexandrinum pavement is of the tenth century. On the left of the entrance is a baptismal font, above which are more frescoes relating to the story of St. Laurence. On the right, beneath a mediæval canopy, is a very fine sarcophagus, sculptured with a wedding scene,—adapted as the tomb of Cardinal Fieschi, nephew of Innocent IV., who died in 1256. Inside the canopy, is a fresco of Christ throned, to whom St. Laurence presents the cardinal, and St. Stephen Innocent IV. Behind stand St. Eustace and St. Hippolytus. The west end of the church is closed by the inscription, "Hi sunt qui venerunt de tribulatione magna, et laverunt stolas suas in sanguine agni."

The splendid ambones in the nave, inlaid with serpentine and porphyry, are of the twelfth century. That on the right, with a candelabrum for the Easter candle, was for the gospel; that on the left for the epistle.

At the end of the left aisle, a passage leads down to a subterranean chapel, used for prayer for the souls in purgatory. Here is the entrance to the Catacombs of Sta. Ciriaca, which are said to extend as far as Sant' Agnese, but which have been much and wantonly injured in the works for the new cemetery. Here the body of St. Laurence is related to have been found. Over the entrance is inscribed:—

"Hæc est tumba illa toto orbe terrarum celeberrima ex cimeterio S. Cyriacæ Matronæ ubi sacrum si quis fecerit pro defunctis eorum animas e purgatorii pœnis divi Laurentii meritis evocabit."[287]

Passing the triumphal arch, we enter the early basilica of Pope Pelagius II. (572—590), which is on a lower level than that of the nave. Here are twelve splendid columns of pavonazzetto, of which the two first bear trophies carved above the acanthus leaves of their capitals. These support an entablature formed from various antique fragments, put together without uniformity,—and a triforium, divided by twelve small columns.

On the inside, which was formerly the outside, of the triumphal arch, is a restored mosaic of the time of Pelagius, representing the Saviour seated upon the world, having on the right St. Peter, St. Laurence, and St. Pelagius, and on the left St. Paul and St. Stephen, and with them, in a warrior's dress, St. Hippolytus, the soldier who was appointed to guard St. Laurence in prison, and who, being converted by him, was dragged to death by wild horses, after seeing nineteen of his family suffer before his eyes. He is the patron saint of horses. Here also are the mystic cities, Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

A long poetical inscription is known to have once existed here; only two lines remain round the arch:—

"Martyrium flaminis olim Levita subisti

Jure tuis templis lux veneranda redit."

The high altar, with a baldacchino, supported by four porphyry columns, covers the remains of SS. Laurence and Stephen, enclosed in a silver shrine by Pelagius II., a pope so munificent that he had given up his own house as a hospital for aged poor. St. Justin is also buried here.

"No one knew what had become of the body of St. Stephen for 400 years, when Lucian, a priest of Carsamagala, in Palestine, was visited in a dream by Gamaliel, the doctor of the law at whose feet Paul was brought up in all the learning of the Jews; and Gamaliel revealed to him that after the death of Stephen he had carried away the body of the saint, and had buried it in his own sepulchre, and had also deposited near it the body of Nicodemus and other saints; and this dream having been repeated three times, Lucian went with others deputed by the bishop, and dug with mattocks and spades in the spot which had been indicated,—a sepulchre in a garden,—and found what they supposed to be the remains of St. Stephen, their peculiar sanctity being proved by many miracles. These relics were first deposited in Jerusalem, in the church of Sion, and afterwards by the younger Theodosius carried to Constantinople, whence they were taken to Rome, and placed by Pope Pelagius in the same tomb with St. Laurence. It is related that when they opened the sarcophagus, and lowered into it the body of St. Stephen, St. Laurence moved on one side, giving the place of honour on the right hand to St. Stephen: hence the common people of Rome have conferred on St. Laurence the title of 'Il cortese Spagnuolo'—the courteous Spaniard."—Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art.

Behind the altar is a mosaic screen, with panels of porphyry and serpentine, and an ancient episcopal throne.

The lower church was filled up with soil till 1864, when restorations were ordered here. These were entrusted to Count Vespignani, and have been better carried out than most church alterations in Rome; but an interesting portico, with mosaics by one of the famous Cosmati family, has been destroyed to make room for some miserable arrangements connected with the modern cemetery.

It was in this basilica that Peter Courtenay, Count of Auxerre, with Yolande his wife, received the imperial crown of Constantinople from Honorius III. in 1217.

Adjoining the church is the very picturesque Cloister of the Monastery, built in 1190, for Cistercian monks, but assigned as a residence for any Patriarchs of Jerusalem who might visit Rome. Here are preserved many ancient inscriptions, and other fragments from the neighbouring catacombs.

The basilica is now almost engulfed in the Cemetery of S. Lorenzo, the great modern burial-ground of Rome. It was opened in 1837, but has been much enlarged in the last ten years. Hither wend the numerous funerals which are seen passing through the streets after Ave-Maria, with a procession of monks bearing candles. A frightful gate, with a laudatory inscription to Pius IX., and a hideous modern chapel, have been erected. There are very few fine monuments. The best are those in imitation of the cinque-cento tombs of which there are so many in the Roman churches. That by Podesti, the painter, to his wife, in the right corridor of the cloister, is touching. The higher ground to the left, behind the church, is occupied by the tombs of the rich. Those of the poor are indiscriminately scattered over a wide plain. A range of cliffs on the left were perforated by the catacombs of Sta. Cyriaca, which, with the bad taste so constantly displayed in Rome, have been wantonly and shamefully broken up. Those who do not wish to descend into a catacomb, may here see (from without) all their arrangements—in the passages lined with sepulchres, and even some small chapels, lined with rude frescoes, laid open to the air, where the cliff has been cut away.

A Roman funeral is a most sad sight, and strikes one with an unutterable sense of desolation.

"After a death the body is entirely abandoned to the priests, who take possession of it, watch over it, and prepare it for burial; while the family, if they can find refuge anywhere else, abandon the house and remain away a week.... The body is not ordinarily allowed to remain in the house more than twelve hours, except on condition that it is sealed up in lead or zinc. At nightfall a sad procession of becchini and frati may be seen coming down the street, and stopping before the house of the dead. The becchini are taken from the lowest classes of the people, and hired to carry the corpse on the bier and to accompany it to the church and cemetery. They are dressed in shabby black cappe, covering their head and face as well as their body, and having two large holes cut in front of the eyes to enable them to see. These cappe are girdled round the waist, and the dirty trousers and worn-out shoes are miserably manifest under the skirts of their dress—showing plainly that their duty is occasional. All the frati and becchini, except the four who carry the bier, are furnished with wax candles, for no one is buried in Rome without a candle. You may know the rank of the person to be buried by the lateness of the hour and the number of the frati. If it be the funeral of a person of wealth or a noble, it takes place at a late hour, the procession of frati is long, and the bier elegant. If it be a state-funeral, as of a prince, carriages accompany it in mourning, the coachman and lackeys are bedizened in their richest liveries, and the state hammer-cloths are spread on the boxes, with the family arms embossed on them in gold. But if it be a pauper's funeral, there are only becchini enough to carry the bier to the grave, and two frati, each with a little candle; and the sunshine is yet on the streets when they come to take away the corpse.

"You will see this procession stop before the house where the corpse is lying. Some of the becchini go up-stairs, and some keep guard below. Scores of shabby men and boys are gathered round the frati; some attracted simply by curiosity, and some for the purpose of catching the wax, which gutters down from the candles as they are blown by the wind. The latter may be known by the great horns of paper which they carry in their hands. While this crowd waits for the corpse, the frati light their candles, and talk, laugh, and take snuff together. Finally comes the body, borne down by four of the becchini. It is in a common rough deal coffin, more like an ill-made packing-case than anything else. No care or expense has been laid out upon it to make it elegant, for it is only to be seen for a moment. Then it is slid upon the bier, and over it is drawn the black velvet pall with golden trimmings, on which a cross, death's head, and bones are embroidered. Four of the becchini hoist it on their shoulders, the frati break forth into their hoarse chaunt, and the procession sets out for the church. Little and big boys and shabby men follow along, holding up their paper horns against the sloping candles to catch the dripping wax. Every one takes off his hat, or makes the sign of the cross, or mutters a prayer, as the body passes; and with a dull, sad, monotonous chaunt, the candles gleaming and flaring, and casting around them a yellow flickering glow, the funeral winds along through the narrow streets, and under the sombre palaces and buildings, where the shadows of night are deepening every moment. The spectacle seen from a distance, and especially when looked down upon from a window, is very effective; but it loses much of its solemnity as you approach it; for the frati are so vulgar, dirty, and stupid, and seem so utterly indifferent and heartless, as they mechanically croak out their psalms, that all other emotions yield to a feeling of disgust."—Story's Roba di Roma.

"Ces rapprochements soudains de l'antiquité et des temps modernes, provoqués par la vue d'un monument dont la destinée se lie à l'une et aux autres, sont très-fréquents à Rome. L'histoire poétique d'Énée aurait pu m'en fournir plusieurs. Ainsi dans l'Énéide, aux funérailles de Pallas, une longue procession s'avance, portant des flambeaux funèbres, suivant l'usage antique, dit Virgile. En effet, on se souvient que l'usage des cierges remontait à l'abolition des sacrifices humains, accompli dans les temps héroïques par le dieu pélasgique Hercule. La description que fait Virgile des funérailles de Pallas pourrait convenir à un de ces enterrements romains où l'on voit de longues files de capucins marchant processionnellement en portant des cierges.

... 'Lucet via longo

Ordine flammarum.'"

Æn. xi. 143.

—Ampère, i. 217.

On the other side of the road from S. Lorenzo is the Catacomb of St. Hippolytus, interesting as described by the Christian poet Prudentius, who wrote at the end of the fourth century.

"Not far from the city walls, among the well-trimmed orchards, there lies a crypt buried in darksome pits. Into its secret recesses a steep path in the winding stairs directs one, even though the turnings shut out the light. The light of day, indeed, comes in through the doorway, as far as the surface of the opening, and illuminates the threshold of the portico; and when, as you advance further, the darkness as of night seems to get more and more obscure throughout the mazes of the cavern, there occur at intervals apertures cut in the roof which convey the bright rays of the sun upon the cave. Although the recesses, twisting at random this way and that, form narrow chambers with darksome galleries, yet a considerable quantity of light finds its way through the pierced vaulting down into the hollow bowels of the mountain. And thus throughout the subterranean crypt it is possible to perceive the brightness and enjoy the light of the absent sun. To such secret places is the body of Hippolytus conveyed, near to the spot where now stands the altar dedicated to God. That same altar-slab (mensa) gives the sacrament, and is the faithful guardian of its martyrs' bones, which it keeps laid up there in expectation of the Eternal Judge, while it feeds the dwellers by the Tiber with holy food. Wondrous is the sanctity of the place! The altar is at hand for those who pray, and it assists the hopes of men by mercifully granting what they need. Here have I, when sick with ills both of soul and body, oftentimes prostrated myself in prayer and found relief.... Early in the morning men come to salute (Hippolytus): all the youth of the place worship here: they come and go until the setting of the sun. Love of religion collects together into one dense crowd both Latins and foreigners; they imprint their kisses on the shining silver; they pour out their sweet balsams; they bedew their faces with tears."—See Roma Sotterranea, p. 98.

CHAPTER XIV.

IN THE CAMPUS MARTIUS.

S. Antonio dei Portoguesi—Torre della Scimia—S. Agostino—S. Apollinare—Palazzo Altemps—Sta. Maria dell' Anima—Sta. Maria della Pace—Palazzo del Governo Vecchio—Monte Giordano and Palazzo Gabrielli—Sta. Maria Nuova—Sta. Maria di Monserrato—S. Girolamo della Carità—Sta. Brigitta—S. Tommaso degl' Inglese—Palazzo Farnese—Sta. Maria della Morte—Palazzo Falconieri—Campo di Fiore—Palazzo Cancelleria—SS. Lorenzo e Damaso—Palazzo Linote—Palazzo Spada—Trinità dei Pellegrini—Sta. Maria in Monticelli—Palazzo Santa Croce—S. Carlo a Catinari—Theatre of Pompey—S. Andrea della Valle—Palazzo Vidoni—Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne—S. Pantaleone—Palazzo Braschi—Statue of Pasquin—Sant' Agnese—Piazza Navona—Palazzo Pamfili—S. Giacomo degli Spagnuoli—Palazzo Madama—S. Luigi dei Francesi—The Sapienza—S. Eustachio—Pantheon—Sta. Maria sopra Minerva—Il Piè die Marmo.

THE Campus Martius, now an intricate labyrinth of streets, occupying the wide space between the Corso and the Tiber, was not included within the walls of ancient Rome, but even to late imperial times continued to be covered with gardens and pleasure-grounds, interspersed with open spaces, which were used for the public exercises and amusements of the Roman youth.

"Tunc ego me memini ludos in gramine Campi

Aspicere, et didici, lubrice Tibri, tuos."

Ovid, Fast. vi. 237.

"Tot jam abiere dies, cum me, nec cura theatri,

Nec tetigit Campi, nec mea musa juvat."

Propert. ii. El. 13.

The vicinity of the Tiber afforded opportunities for practice in swimming.

"Quamvis non alius flectere equum sciens

Æque conspicitur gramine Martio."

Hor. iii. Od. 7.

"Altera gramineo spectabis Equiria campo,

Quem Tiberis curvis in latus urget aquis."

Ovid, Fast. iii. 519.

"Once, upon a raw and gusty day,

The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores,

Cæsar said to me, 'Dar'st thou, Cassius, now

Leap in with me into this angry flood,

And swim to yonder point?' Upon the word,

Accoutred as I was, I plunged in,

And bade him follow,—so, indeed, he did:

The torrent roared; and we did buffet it

With lusty sinews; throwing it aside,

And stemming it with hearts of controversy."

Shakspeare, Julius Cæsar.

It was only near the foot of the Capitol that any buildings were erected under the republic, and these only public offices; under the empire a few magnificent edifices were scattered here and there over the plain. In the time of Cicero, the Campus was quite uninhabited; it is supposed that the population were first attracted here when the aqueducts were cut during the Lombard invasion, which drove the inhabitants from the hills, and obliged them to seek a site where they could avail themselves of the Tiber.

The hills, which were crowded by a dense population in ancient Rome, are now for the most part deserted; the plain, which was deserted in ancient Rome, is now thickly covered with inhabitants.

The plain was bounded on two sides by the Quirinal and Capitoline hills, which were both in the hands of the Sabines, but it had no connection with the Latin hill of the Palatine. Thus it was dedicated to the Sabine god, Mamers or Mars, either before the time of Servius Tullius, as is implied by Dionysius, or after the time of the Tarquins, as stated by Livy.

Tarquinius Superbus had appropriated the Campus Martius to his own use, and planted it with corn. After he was expelled, and his crops cut down and thrown into the Tiber, the land was restored to the people. Here the tribunes used to hold the assemblies of the plebs in the Prata Flaminia at the foot of the Capitol, before any buildings were erected as their meeting-place.

The earliest building in the Campus Martius of which there is any record, is the Temple of Apollo, built by the consul C. Julius, in B.C. 430. Under the censor C. Flaminius, in B.C. 220, a group of important edifices arose on a site which is ascertained to be nearly that occupied by the Palazzo Caetani, Palazzo Mattei, and Sta. Caterina dei Funari. The most important was the Circus Flaminius, where the plebeian games were celebrated under the care of the plebeian ædiles, and which in later times was flooded by Augustus, when thirty-six crocodiles were killed there for the amusement of the people.[288]

Close to this Circus was the Villa Publica, erected B.C. 438, for taking the census, levying troops, and such other public business as could not be transacted within the city.

Here, also, foreign ambassadors were received before their entrance into the city, as afterwards at the Villa Papa Giulio, and here victorious generals awaited the decree which allowed them a triumph.[289] It was in the Villa Publica that Sylla cruelly massacred three thousand partisans of Marius, after he had promised them their lives.

"Tunc flos Hesperiæ, Latii jam sola juventus,

Concidit, et miseræ maculavit ovilia Romæ."

Lucan, ii. 196.

The cries of these dying men were heard by the senate who were assembled at the time in the Temple of Bellona (restored by Appius Claudius Cæcus in the Samnite War), which stood hard by, and in front of which at the extremity of the Circus Flaminius, where the Piazza Paganica now is, stood the Columna Bellica, where the Ferialis, when war was declared, flung a lance into a piece of ground, supposed to represent the enemy's country, when it was not possible to do it at the hostile frontier itself. Julius Cæsar flung the spear here when war was declared against Cleopatra.[290]

"Prospicit a templo summum brevis area Circum.

Est ibi non parvæ parva columna notæ.

Hinc solet hasta manu, belli prænuncia, mitti;

In regem et gentes, cum placet arma capi."

Ovid, Fast. vi. 205.

Almost adjoining the Villa Publica was the Septa, where the Comitia Centuriata of the plebs assembled for the election of their tribunes. The other name of this place of assembly, Ovilia, or the sheepfolds, bears witness to its primitive construction, when it was surrounded by a wooden barrier. In later times the Ovilia was more richly adorned; Pliny describes it as containing two groups of sculpture—Pan and the young Olympus, and Chiron and the young Achilles—for which the keepers were responsible with their lives;[291] and under the empire it was enclosed in magnificent buildings.

In B.C. 189 the Temple of Hercules Musagetes was built by the censor Fulvius Nobilior. It occupied a site on the north-west of the portico of Octavia.[292] Sylla restored it:—

"Altera pars Circi custode sub Hercule tuta est;

Quod Deus Euboico carmine munus habet.

Muneris est tempus, qui Nonas Lucifer ante est:

Si titulos quæris; Sulla probavit opus."

Ovid, Fast. vi. 209.

This temple was rebuilt by L. Marcius Philippus, stepfather of Augustus, and surrounded by a portico called after him Porticus Philippi.[293]

"Vites censeo porticum Philippi,

Si te viderit Hercules, peristi."

Martial, v. Ep. 50.[294]

The Portico of Octavia itself was originally built by the prætor, Cn. Octavius, in B.C. 167, and rebuilt by Augustus, who re-dedicated it in memory of his sister. Close adjoining was the Porticus Metelli, built B.C. 146, by Cæcilius Metellus.[295] It contained two Temples of Juno and Jupiter.[296] Another Temple of Juno stood between this and the theatre of Pompey, having been erected by M. Æmilius Lepidus in B.C. 170, together with a Temple of Diana.[297] Near the same spot was a Temple of Fortuna Equestris, erected in consequence of a vow of Q. Fulvius Flaccus when fighting against the Celtiberians in B.C. 176; a Temple of Isis and Serapis; and a Temple of Mars, erected by D. Junius Brutus, for his victories over the Gallicians in B.C. 136;[298] at this last-named temple the people, assembled in their centuries, voted the war against Philip of Macedon. In the same neighbourhood was the Theatre of Balbus, a general under Julius Cæsar, occupying the site of the Piazza della Scuola.

The munificence of Pompey extended the public buildings much further into the Campus. He built, after his triumph, a Temple of Minerva on the site now occupied by the Church of Sta. Maria sopra Minerva, on which the beautiful statue called "the Giustiniani Minerva" was found, and the Theatre of Pompey, surrounded by pillared porticoes and walks shaded with plane-trees.

"Scilicet umbrosis sordet Pompeia columnis

Porticus aulæis nobilis Attalicis:

Et creber pariter platanis surgentibus ordo,

Flumina sopito quæque Marone cadunt."

Propertius, ii. El. 32.

"Tu modo Pompeia lentus spatiare sub umbra,

Cum Sol Herculei terga leonis adit."

Ovid, de Art. Am. i. 67.

"Inde petit centum pendentia tecta columnis,

Illinc Pompeii dona, nemusque duplex."

Martial, ii. Ep. 14.

Under the empire important buildings began to rise up further from the city. The Amphitheatre of Statilius Taurus, whose ruins are supposed to be the foundation of the Monte-Citorio, was built by a general under Augustus; the magnificent Pantheon, the Baths of Agrippa, and the Diribitorium—where the soldiers received their pay—whose huge and unsupported roof was one of the wonders of the city,[299] were due to his son-in-law. Agrippa also brought the Aqua Virgo into the city to supply his baths, conveying it on pillars across the Flaminian Way, the future Corso.

"Qua vicina pluit Vipsanis porta columnis,

Et madet assiduo lubricus imbre lapis,

In jugulum pueri, qui roscida templa subibat,

Decidit hiberno prægravis unda gelu."

Martial, iv. Ep. 18.

Near this aqueduct was a temple of Juturna;

"Te quoque lux eadem, Turni soror, æde recepit;

Hic ubi Virginea campus obitur aqua."

Ovid, Fast. i. 463.

and another of Isis.

"A Meroë portabit aquas, ut spargat in æde

Isidis, antiquo quæ proxima surgit ovili."

Juvenal, Sat. vi. 528.

These were followed by the erection of the Temple of Neptune—by some ascribed to Agrippa, who is said to have built it in honour of his naval victories, by others to the time of the Antonines; by the great Imperial Mausoleum, then far out in the country; and by the Baths of Nero, on the site now occupied by S. Luigi and the neighbouring buildings.

" ... Quid Nerone pejus?

Quid thermis melius Neronianis?"

Martial, vii. Ep. 33.

" ... Fas sit componere magnis

Parva, Neronea nec qui modo totus in unda

Hic iterum sudare negat."

Statius, Silv. i. 5.

Besides these were an Arch of Tiberius, erected by Claudius; a Temple of Hadrian and Basilica of Matidia, built by Antoninus Pius, in honour of his predecessors; the Temple and Arch of Marcus Aurelius, near the site of the present Palazzo Chigi; and an Arch of Gratian, Valentinian II., and Theodosius.

Of all these various buildings nothing remains except the Pantheon, a single arch of the Baths of Agrippa, some disfigured fragments of the Mausoleum, a range of columns belonging to the temple of Neptune, and a portion of the Portico of Octavia. The interest of the Campus Martius is almost entirely mediæval or modern, and the objects worth visiting are scattered amid such a maze of dirty and intricate streets, that they are seldom sought out except by those who make a long stay in Rome, and care for everything connected with its history and architecture.

Following the line of streets which leads from the Piazza di Spagna to St. Peter's (Via Condotti, Via Fontanella Borghese), beyond the Borghese Palace, let us turn to the left by the Via della Scrofa,[300] at the entrance of which is the Palazzo Galitzin on the right, and the Palazzo Cardelli on the left.

Passing, on the right, St. Ivo of Brittany, the national church of the Bretons, the second turn on the right, Via S. Antonio dei Portoguesi, shows a church dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua, and the fine mediæval tower called Torre della Scimia.

In this tower once lived a man who had a favourite ape. One day this creature seized upon a baby, and rushing to the summit, was seen from below, by the agonized parents, perched upon the battlements, and balancing their child to and fro over the abyss. They made a vow in their terror that if the baby were restored in safety, they would make provision that a lamp should burn nightly for ever before an image of the Virgin on the summit. The monkey, without relaxing its hold of the infant, slid down the wall, and bounding and grimacing, laid the child at its mother's feet. Thus a lamp always burns upon the battlements before an image of the Madonna.

This building is better known, however, as "Hilda's Tower," a fictitious name which it has received from Hawthorne's mysterious novel.

"Taking her way through some of the intricacies of the city, Miriam entered what might be called either a widening of a street or a small piazza. The neighbourhood comprised a baker's oven, emitting the usual fragrance of sour bread; a shoe shop; a linendraper's shop; a pipe and cigar shop; a lottery office; a station for French soldiers, with a sentinel pacing in front; and a fruit stand, at which a Roman matron was selling the dried kernels of chesnuts, wretched little figs, and some bouquets of yesterday. A church, of course, was near at hand, the façade of which ascended into lofty pinnacles, whereon were perched two or three winged figures of stone, either angelic or allegorical, blowing stone trumpets in close vicinity to the upper windows of an old and shabby palace. This palace was distinguished by a feature not very common in the architecture of Roman edifices; that is to say, a mediæval tower, square, massive, lofty, and battlemented and machicolated at the summit.

"At one of the angles of the battlements stood a shrine of the Virgin, such as we see everywhere at the street-corners of Rome, but seldom or never, except in this solitary instance, at a height above the ordinary level of men's views and aspirations. Connected with this old tower and its lofty shrine, there is a legend; and for centuries a lamp has been burning before the Virgin's image at noon, at midnight, at all hours of the twenty-four, and must be kept burning for ever, as long as the tower shall stand; or else the tower itself, the palace, and whatever estate belongs to it, shall pass from its hereditary possessor, in accordance with an ancient vow, and become the property of the Church.

"As Miriam approached, she looked upward, and saw—not, indeed, the flame of the never-dying lamp, which was swallowed up in the broad sunlight that brightened the shrine—but a flock of white doves, shining, fluttering, and wheeling above the topmost height of the tower, their silver wings flashing in the pure transparency of the air. Several of them sat on the ledge of the upper window, pushing one another off by their eager struggle for this favourite station, and all tapping their beaks and flapping their wings tumultuously against the panes; some had alighted in the street, far below, but flew hastily upward, at the sound of the window being thrust ajar, and opening in the middle, on rusty hinges, as Roman windows do."—Transformation.

The next street, on the right, leads to the Church of S. Agostino, built originally by Bacio Pintelli, in 1483, for Cardinal d'Estouteville, archbishop of Rouen and Legate in France (the vindicator of Joan of Arc), but altered in 1740 by Vanvitelli. The delicate work of the front, built of travertine robbed from the Coliseum, is much admired by those who do not seek for strength of light and shadow. This church—dedicated to her son—contains the remains of Sta. Monica, brought hither from Ostia, where she died. The chapel of St. Augustin, in the right transept, contains a gloomy picture by Guercino of St. Augustin between St. John Baptist and St. Paul the Hermit. The high altar, by Bernini, has an image of the Madonna brought from Sta. Sophia at Constantinople, and attributed to St. Luke. The second chapel in the left aisle has a group of the Virgin and Child with St. Anna, by Andrea Sansovino, 1512.

On the third pilaster, to the left of the nave, is a fresco of Isaiah by Raphael, painted in 1512, but retouched by Daniele de Volterra in the reign of Paul IV. The prophet holds a scroll with words from Isaiah xxvi. 2. Few will agree with the stricture of Kugler:—

"In a fresco, representing the prophet Isaiah and two angels, who hold a tablet, the comparison is unfavourable to Raphael. An effort to rival the powerful style of Michael-Angelo is very visible in this picture; an effort which, notwithstanding the excellence of the execution in parts, has produced only an exaggerated and affected figure."—Kugler, ii. 371.

The church overflows with silver hearts and other votive offerings, which are all addressed to the Madonna and Child of Andrea Sansovino, close to the west entrance, which is really a fine piece of sculpture—for an object of Roman Catholic idolatry.

"On the pedestal of the image is inscribed—'N. S. Pio VII. concede in perpetuo 100 giorni d'indulgenza da lucrarsi una volta al giorno da tutte quelle che divotamente toccheranno il piede di questa S. Immagine recitando un Ave Maria per il bisogno di S. Chiesa. 7 Giug. MD.CCCXXII."

Around this statue are, or were a short time ago, a whole array of assassins' daggers hung up, strange instances of trespass-offering.

"The Church of S. Agostino is the Methodist meeting-house, so to speak, of Rome, where the extravagance of the enthusiasm of the lower orders is allowed the freest scope. Its Virgin and Child are covered, smothered, with jewels, votive offerings of those whose prayers the image had heard and answered. All round the image the walls are covered with votive offerings likewise; some of a similar kind—jewels, watches, valuables of different descriptions. Some offerings again consist of pictures, representing, generally in the rudest way, some sickness or accident, cured or averted by the appearance in the clouds of the Madonna, as seen in the image. Almost the whole side of the church is covered, from pavement to roof, with these curious productions."—Alford's Letters from Abroad.

"It is not long since the report was spread, that one day when a poor woman called upon this image of the Madonna for help, it began to speak, and replied, 'If I had only something, then I could help thee, but I myself am so poor!'

"This story was circulated, and very soon throngs of credulous people hastened hither to kiss the foot of the Madonna, and to present her with all kinds of gifts. The image of the Virgin, a beautiful figure in brown marble, now sits shining with ornaments of gold and precious stones. Candles and lamps burn around, and people pour in, rich and poor, great and small, to kiss, some of them two or three times—the Madonna's foot, a gilt foot, to which the forehead also is devotionally pressed. The marble foot is already worn away with kissing, the Madonna is now rich.... Below the altar it is inscribed in golden letters that Pius VII. promised two hundred days' absolution to all such as should kiss the Madonna's foot, and pray with the whole heart Ave Maria."—Frederika Bremer.

Passing the arch, just beyond this, is the Church of S. Apollinare, built originally by Adrian I. (772—795), but modernized under Benedict XIV. by Fuga. It contains a number of relics of saints brought from the East by Basilian monks. Over the altar, on the left, in the inner vestibule, is a Madonna by Perugino. The church now belongs to the German college.

S. Apollinare is said to have accompanied St. Peter from Antioch to Rome, and to have remained here as his companion and assistant (whence the church dedicated to him here). He was afterwards sent to preach the faith in Ravenna, where he became the first Christian bishop, and suffered martyrdom outside the Rimini gate, July 23, A.D. 79.

Adjoining this church is the Seminario Romano, founded by Pius IV., on a system drawn up by his nephew, S. Carlo Borromeo. Eight hundred young boys are annually educated here. In order to gain admittance, it is necessary to be of Roman birth, to be acquainted with grammar, and to wish to take orders. Pupils are held to their first intention of entering the priesthood, by being compelled to refund all the expenses of their education, if they renounce it.

Nearly opposite the church is the Palazzo Altemps, built 1580, by Martino Lunghi. Its courtyard, due, like all the best palace work in Rome, to Baldassare Peruzzi, is exceedingly graceful and picturesque. Ancient statues and flowering shrubs occupy the spaces between the arches of the ground-floor, and on the first-floor is a loggia, richly decorated with delicate arabesques in the style of Giovanni da Udine. Near this loggia is a chapel of exceedingly beautiful proportions, and delicately worked detail. It has several good frescoes, especially the Flight into Egypt, and Sta. Cecilia singing to the Virgin and the Child. At the west end is a small gracefully proportioned music-gallery, in various coloured marbles; in an inner chapel is a fine bronze crucifix. The palace, of which the most interesting parts are shown on request, is now the property of the Duke of Gallese, to whom it came by the marriage of Jules Hardouin, Duke of Gallese, with Donna Lucrezia d'Altemps.

Following the Via S. Agostino by the mediæval Torre Sanguinea, whose name bears witness to the mediæval frays of popes and anti-popes, we reach the German national church of Sta. Maria dell' Anima, which derives its name from a marble group of the Madonna invoked by two souls in purgatory, found among the foundations, and now inserted in the tympanum of the portal. It was originally built c. 1440, with funds bequeathed by "un certo Giovanni Pietro," but enlarged in 1514; the façade is by Giuliano da Sangallo. The door-frames, of delicate workmanship, are by Antonio Giamberti.

The front entrance is generally closed, but one can always gain admittance from behind, through the courtyard of the German hospital.

The interior is peculiar, from its great height and width in comparison with its length. It is divided into three almost equal aisles. Over the high altar is a damaged picture of the Holy Family with saints, by Giulio Romano. On the right is the fine tomb of Pope Adrian VI., Adrian Florent (1522—23), designed by Baldassare Peruzzi, and carried out by Michelangelo Sanese and Niccolo Tribolo. This pope, the son of a ship-builder at Utrecht, was professor at the university of Louvain, and tutor of Charles V. After the witty, brilliant age of Julius II. and Leo X., he ushered in a period of penitence and devotion. He drove from the papal court the throng of artists and philosophers who had hitherto surrounded it, and he put a stop to the various great buildings which were in progress, saying, "I do not wish to adorn priests with churches, but churches with priests." Still he found the times so much too frivolous for him, that he only survived a year. In his epitaph we read:—

"Hadrianus hic situs est, qui nihil sibi infelicius in vita quam quod imperaret, duxit."[301]

and—

"Proh dolor! quantum refert in quæ tempora vel optimi.

.... Cujusque virtus incidat!"

The tomb was erected at the expense of Cardinal William of Enkenfort, the only prelate to whom he had time to give a hat.

"It is an irony, that Adrian, who despised all the arts on principle, and looked upon Greek statues as idolatrous, had a more artistic monument than Leo X. of the house of Medici. Baldassare Peruzzi made the design, its sculptures were carried out by Michelangelo Sanese and Tribolo, and they merit the highest acknowledgment. Here, as is so often the case, the architecture is, as it were, a frontispiece; but the way in which the pope is represented, resembles, in conformity with his character, the type of the middle ages. He is stretched upon a simple marble sarcophagus, and slumbers with his head supported by his hand. His countenance (Adrian was very handsome) is deeply marked and sorrowful. In the lunette above, following the ancient type, appears Mary with the Child between St. Peter and St. Paul. Below, in the niches, stand the figures of the four cardinal virtues: Temperance holds a chain; Courage a branch of a tree, while a lion stands by her side; Justice has an ostrich by her side; Wisdom carries a mirror and a serpent. These figures are executed with great care. Lastly, under the sarcophagus is a large bas-relief representing the entry of the pope to Rome. He sits on horseback in the dress of a cardinal; behind him follow cardinals and monks; the senator of Rome renders homage on his knees, while from the gate the eternal Rome comes forth to meet him. This Cypria, so well adorned by his predecessors, seems ill-pleased to do homage to this cross old man. With secret pleasure one sees a pagan idea carried out in the corner: the Tiber is represented as a river god with his horn of abundance; and thus the devout pope could not defend himself against the heathen spirit of the time, which has at least attached itself to his tomb."—Gregorovius, Grabmäler der Päpste.

Opposite the pope, on the left of the choir, is the fine tomb of a Duke of Cleves, who died 1575, by Egidius of Riviere and Nicolaus of Arras.

The body of the church has several good pictures. In the 1st chapel of the right aisle is St. Bruno receiving the keys of the cathedral of Miessen in Saxony from a fisherman, who had found them in the inside of a fish, by Carlo Saraceni; in the 2nd chapel, the monument of Cardinal Slusius; in the 3rd chapel, an indifferent copy of the Pietà of Michael Angelo, by Nanni di Bacio Bigio. In the 1st chapel of the left aisle is the martyrdom of St. Lambert, C. Saraceni.

The two pictures in this church are cited by Lanzi as the best works of this comparatively rare artist, sometimes called Carlo Veneziano, 1585—1625. He sought to follow in the steps of Caravaggio; many will think that he surpassed him, when they look upon the richness of colour and grand effect of light and shadow which is displayed here.

In the 3rd chapel (del Christo Morto), frescoes from the life of Sta. Barbara, Mich. Coxcie, altar-piece (the entombment) and frescoes by Salviati.

On the left of the west door is the tomb of Cardinal Andrea of Austria, nephew of Ferdinand II., who died 1650; on the right that of Cardinal Enckenovirt, died 1500. In the passage towards the sacristy is a fine bas-relief, representing Gregory XIII. giving a sword to the Duke of Cleves.

Close to this church is that of Sta. Maria della Pace, built in 1487, by Baccio Pintelli, to fulfil a curious ex-voto made by Sixtus IV. Formerly there stood here a little chapel dedicated to St. Andrew, in whose portico was an image of the Virgin. One day a drunken soldier pierced the bosom of this Madonna with his sword, when blood miraculously spirted forth. Sixtus IV. (Francesco della Rovere, 1471—84) visited the spot with his cardinals, and vowed to compensate the Virgin by building her a church, if she would grant peace to Europe and the Church, then afflicted by a cruel war with the Turks. Peace was restored, and the Church of "St. Mary of Peace" was erected by the grateful pope. Pietro da Cortona added the peculiar semicircular portico under Alexander VII. The interior has only a short nave ending under an octagonal cupola.

Above the 1st chapel on the right (that of the Chigi family) are the Four Sibyls of Raphael.

"This is one of Raphael's most perfect works: great mastery is shown in the mode of filling and taking advantage of the apparently unfavourable space. The angels who hold the tablets to be written on, or read by the Sibyls, create a spirited variety in the severe symmetrical arrangement of the whole. Grace in the attitudes and movements, with a peculiar harmony of form and colour, pervade the whole picture; but important restorations have unfortunately become necessary in several parts. An interesting comparison may be instituted between this work and the Sibyls of Michael Angelo. In each we find the peculiar excellence of the great masters; for while Michael Angelo's figures are grand, sublime, profound, the fresco of the Pace bears the impress of Raphael's severe and ingenious grace. The four Prophets, on the wall over the Sibyls, were executed by Timoteo della Vite, after drawings by Raphael."—Kugler.

"The Sibyls have suffered much from time, and more, it is said, from restoration; yet the forms of Raphael, in all their loveliness, all their sweetness, are still before us; they breathe all the soul, the sentiment, the chaste expression, and purity of design that characterize his works. The dictating angels hover over the heads of the gifted maids, one of whom writes with rapid pen the irreversible decrees of Fate. The countenances and musing attitudes of her sister Sibyls express those feelings of habitual thoughtfulness and pensive sadness natural to those who are cursed with the knowledge of futurity, and all its coming evils."—Eaton's Rome.

"The Sibyls are simply beautiful women of antique form, to whom, with the aid of books, scrolls, and inscriptions, the Sibyllic idea has been given, but who would equally pass for the abstract personifications of virtues or cities. They are four in number,—the Cumana, Phrygia, Persica, and Tiburtina; all, with the exception of the last, in the fulness of youth and beauty, and occupied, apparently, with no higher aim than that of displaying both. Indeed, the Tiburtina matches ill with the rest, either in character or action. She is aged, has an open book on her lap, but turns with a strange and rigid action as if suddenly called. The very comparison with her tends to divest the others of the Sibylline character. In this, the angels who float above, and obviously inspire them, also help, for while adding to the charm of the composition, which is one of the most exquisite as to mere art, they interfere with that inwardly inspired expression which all other art has given to these women.

"The inscription on the scroll of the Cumæan Sibyl gives in Greek the words, 'The Resurrection of the Dead.' The Persica is writing on the scroll held by the angel, 'He will have the lot of Death.' The beautiful Phrygia is presented with a scroll, 'The heavens surround the sphere of the earth;' and the Tiburtina has under her the inscription, 'I will open and arise.' The fourth angel floats above, holding the seventh line of Virgil's Eclogue, 'Jam nova progenies.'"—Lady Eastlake's 'History of Our Lord.'

The 1st chapel on the left has monuments of the Ponzetti family. The 2nd chapel on the left has an altar-piece of the Virgin between St. Bridget and St. Catherine, by Baldassare Peruzzi; in the front of the picture kneels the donor, Cardinal Ponzetti. The 1st altar on the right has the Adoration of the Shepherds by Sermoneta. The 2nd chapel, the burial-place of the Santa Croce family, has rich carved work of the sixteenth century. The high altar, designed by Carlo Maderno, has an ancient (miracle-working) Madonna. Of the four paintings of the cupola, the Nativity of the Virgin is by Francesco Vanni; the Visitation, Carlo Maratta; the Presentation in the Temple, Baldassare Peruzzi; the Death of the Virgin, Morandi.

Newly-married couples have the touching custom of attending their first mass here, and invoking "St. Mary of Peace" to rule the course of their new life.

The Cloister of the Convent, entered on the left under the dome, was designed by Bramante for Cardinal Caraffa in 1504.

From the portico of the church the Via in Parione leads to the Via del Governo Vecchio. Here, on the right, is the Palazzo del Governo Vecchio, with a richly-sculptured door-way, and ancient cloistered court.

Proceeding as far as the Piazza del Orologio, we see on the right an eminence known as Monte Giordano, supposed to be artificial, and to have arisen from the ruins of ancient buildings.

Its name is derived from Giordano Orsini, a noble of one of the oldest Roman families, who built the palace there, which is now known as the Palazzo Gabrielli, and which has rather a handsome fountain. It was probably in consequence of the name Jordan, that this hillock was chosen in mediæval times as the place where the Jews in Rome received the newly-elected pope on his way to the Lateran, and where their elders, covered with veils, presented him, on their knees, with a copy of the Pentateuch bound in gold. Then the Jews spoke in Hebrew, saying, "Most holy Father, we Hebrew men beseech your Holiness, in the name of our synagogue, to vouchsafe to us that the Mosaic Law, given on Mount Sinai by the Almighty God to Moses our priest, may be confirmed and approved, as also other eminent popes, the predecessors of your Holiness, have approved and confirmed it". And the pope replied, "We confirm the Law, but we condemn your faith and interpretation thereof, because He who you say is to come, the Lord Jesus Christ, is come already, as our Church teaches and preaches."

Turning to the left, we enter a piazza, one side of which is occupied by the convent of the Oratorians, and the vast Church of Santa Maria in Valicella, or the Chiesa Nuova, built by Martino Lunghi for Gregory XIII. and S. Filippo Neri. The façade is by Rughesi. The decorations of the magnificently-ugly interior are partly due to Pietro da Cortona, who painted the roof and cupola.

On the left of the tribune is the gorgeous Chapel of S. Filippo Neri, containing the shrine of the saint, rich in lapis-lazuli and gold, surmounted by a mosaic copy of the picture by Guido in the adjoining convent.

On the right, in the 1st chapel, is the Crucifixion, by Scipione Gaetani; in the 3rd chapel, the Ascension, Maziano. On the left, in the 2nd chapel, is the Adoration of the Magi, Cesare Nebbia; in the 3rd chapel, the Nativity, Durante Alberti; in the 4th chapel, the Visitation, Baroccio. In the left transept are statues of SS. Peter and Paul, by Valsoldo, and the Presentation in the Temple, by Baroccio. When S. Filippo Neri saw this picture, he said to the painter "Ma come avete ben fatto!—Che vera somiglianza!—E così che mi ha apparato tante volte la Santa Vergine."

The high altar has four columns of porta-santa. Its pictures are by Rubens in his youth;—that in the centre represents the Virgin in a glory of angels; on the right are St. Gregory, S. Mauro, and St. Papias; on the left St. Domitilla, St. Nereus, and St. Achilleus.

The Sacristy, entered from the left transept, is by Marucelli. It has a grand statue of S. Filippo Neri, by Algardi. The ceiling is painted by Pietro da Cortona—the subject is an angel bearing the instruments of the passion to heaven.

The Monastery, built by Borromini, contains the magnificent library founded by S. Filippo. The cell of the saint is accessible, even to ladies. It retains his confessional, chair, shoes, rope-girdle,—and also a cast taken from his face after death, and some pictures which belonged to him, including one of Sta. Francesca Romana, and the portrait of an archbishop of Florence. In the private chapel adjoining, is the altar at which he daily said mass, over which is a picture of his time. Here also are the crucifix which was in his hands when he died, his candlesticks, and some sacred pictures on tablets which he carried to the sick. The door of the cell is the same, and the little bell by which he summoned his attendant. In a room below is the carved coffin in which he lay in state, a picture of him lying dead, and the portrait by Guercino from which the mosaic in the church is taken. A curious picture in this chamber represents an earthquake at Beneventum, in which Pope Gregory XIV. believed that his life was saved by an image of S. Filippo. When S. Filippo Nero died,—as in the case of S. Antonio,—the Catholic world exclaimed intuitively, "Il Santo è morto!"

"Let the world flaunt her glories! each glittering prize,

Though tempting to others, is naught in my eyes.

A child of St. Philip, my master and guide,

I would live as he lived, and would die as he died.

"If scanty my fare, yet how was he fed?

On olives and herbs and a small roll of bread.

Are my joints and bones sore with aches and with pains?

Philip scourged his young flesh with fine iron chains.

"A closet his home, where he, year after year,

Bore heat or cold greater than heat or cold here;

A rope stretch'd across it, and o'er it he spread

His small stock of clothes; and the floor was his bed.

"One lodging besides; God's temple he chose,

And he slept in its porch his few hours of repose;

Or studied by light which the altar-lamp gave,

Or knelt at the martyr's victorious grave."

J. H. Newman, 1857.

The church of the Chiesa Nuova belongs exclusively to the Oratorian Fathers. Pope Leo XII. wished to turn it into a parish church.

"It was said that the superior of the house took, and showed, to the Holy Father, an autograph memorial of the founder St. Philip Neri to the pope of his day, petitioning that his church should never be a parish. And below it was written that pope's promise, also in his own hand, that it never should. This pope was St. Pius V. Leo bowed to such authorities, said that he could not contend against two saints, and altered his plans."—Wiseman's Life of Leo XII.

"S. Filippo Neri was good-humoured, witty, strict in essentials, indulgent in trifles. He never commanded; he advised, or perhaps requested: he did not discourse, he conversed: and he possessed, in a remarkable degree, the acuteness necessary to distinguish the peculiar merit of every character."—Ranke.

"S. Filippo Neri laid the foundation of the Congregation of Oratorians in 1551. Several priests and young ecclesiastics associating themselves with him, began to assist him in his conferences, and in reading prayers and meditations to the people in the Church of the Holy Trinity. They were called Oratorians, because at certain hours every morning and afternoon, by ringing a bell, they called the people to the church to prayers and meditations. In 1564, when the saint had formed his congregation into a regular community, he preferred several of his young ecclesiastics to holy orders; one of whom was the eminent Cæsar Baronius, whom, for his sanctity, Benedict XIV., by a decree dated on the 12th of January, 1745, honoured with the title of 'Venerable Servant of God.' At the same time he formed his disciples into a community, using one common purse and table, and he gave them rules and statutes. He forbade any of them to bind themselves to this state by vow or oath, that all might live together joined only by the bands of fervour and holy charity; labouring with all their strength to establish the kingdom of Christ in themselves by the most perfect sanctification of their own souls, and to propagate the same in the souls of others, by preaching, instructing the ignorant, and teaching the Christian doctrine."—Alban Butler.

"S. Filippo Neri exacted from his scholars and associates various undignified outward acts. He required from a young Roman prince, who wished to enjoy the distinction of being a member of his Order, that he should walk through Rome with a fox's tail fastened on behind: and when the prince declined to submit to this, he was declined admission to the Order. Another was made to go through the city without a coat; and another, with torn and tattered sleeves. A nobleman took compassion on the last, and offered him a new pair of sleeves: the youth declined, but afterwards, by command of the master, was obliged gratefully to fetch and wear them. During the building of the new church, he compelled his disciples to bring up the materials like day labourers, and to lay their hands to the work."—Goethe, Romische Briefe.

It was in the piazza in front of this church that (during the reign of Clement XIV.) a beautiful boy was wont to improvise wonderful verses to the admiration of the crowds who surrounded him. This boy was named Trapassi, and was the son of a grocer in the neighbourhood. The Arcadian Academy changed his name into Greek, and called him "Metastasio."

From the corner of the piazza in front of the Chiesa Nuova, the Via Calabraga leads into the Via Monserrato, which it enters between Sta. Lucia del Gonfalone on the right, and S. Stefano in Piscinula on the left;—then, passing on the right S. Giacomo in Aino—behind which, and the Palazzo Ricci, is Santo Spirito dei Napolitani, a much frequented and popular little church—we reach Sta. Maria di Monserrato, built by Sangallo, in 1495, where St. Ignatius Loyola was wont to preach and catechise.

Here, behind the altar, under a stone unmarked by any epitaph, repose at last the remains of Pope Alexander VI., Rodrigo Borgia (1492—1503),—the infamous father of the beautiful and wicked Cæsar and Lucretia Borgia, who is believed to have died from accidentally drinking in a vineyard-banquet the poison which he had prepared for one of his own cardinals. When exhumed and turned out of the pontifical vaults of St Peter's by Julius II., he found a refuge here in his national church. The bones of his uncle Calixtus III., Alfonso Borgia (1455—58), rest in the same grave.

A little further, on the left, is the Church of S. Tommaso degli Inglesi, rebuilt 1870, on the site of a church founded by Offa, king of the East Saxons in 775, but destroyed by fire in 817. It was rebuilt, and was dedicated by Alexander III. (1159) to St. Thomas à Becket, who had lodged in the adjoining hospital when he was in Rome. Gregory XIII., in 1575, united the hospital which existed here with one for English sailors on the Ripa Grande, dedicated to St. Edmund the Martyr, and converted them into a college for English missionaries.

"Nothing like a hospice for English pilgrims existed till the first great Jubilee, when John Shepherd and his wife Alice, seeing this want, settled in Rome, and devoted their substance to the support of poor palmers from their own country. This small beginning grew into sufficient importance for it to become a royal charity; the King of England became its patron, and named its rector, often a person of high consideration. Among the fragments of old monuments scattered about the house by the revolution, and now collected and arranged in a corridor of the college, is a shield surmounted by a crown, and carved with the ancient arms of England, lions or lionceaux, and fleur-de-lis, quarterly. This used formerly to be outside the house, and under it was inscribed:

'Hæc conjuncta duo,

Successus debita legi,

Anglia dant, regi

Francia signa suo.

Laurentius Chance me fecit M.CCC.XII.'"

Cardinal Wiseman.

In the hall of the college are preserved portraits of Roman Catholics who suffered for their faith in England under Henry VIII. and Elizabeth.

The small cloister has a beautiful tomb of Christopher Bainbrigg, archbishop of York, British envoy to Julius II., who died at Rome 1514, and a monument of Sir Thomas Dereham, ob. 1739. Against the wall is the monument of Martha Swinburne, a prodigy of nine years old, inscribed:

"Memoriæ Marthæ, Henrici et Marthæ Swinburne. Nat. Angliæ. ex. Antiqua. et. Nobili. Familia. Caphæton. Northumbriæ. Parentes. Mœstiss. Filiæ. Carissimæ. Pr. Quæ. Ingenio. Excellenti. Forma. Eximia. Incredibili. Doctrina. Moribus. Suavissimis. Vix. Ann. viii. Men. xi. Tantum. Prærepta. Romæ. v. ID. SEPT. AN. MDCCLXVIII.

"Martha Swinburne, born Oct. X. MDCCLVIII. Died Sept. VIII. MDCCLXVII. Her years were few, but her life was long and full. She spoke English, French, and Italian, and had made some progress in the Latin tongue; knew the English and Roman histories, arithmetic, and geography; sang the most difficult music at sight with one of the finest voices in the world, was a great proficient on the harpsichord, wrote well, and danced many sorts of dances with strength and elegance. Her face was beautiful and majestic, her body a perfect model, and all her motions graceful. Her docility in doing everything to make her parents happy, could only be equalled by her sense and aptitude. With so many perfections, amidst the praises of all persons, from the sovereign down to the beggar in the street, her heart was incapable of vanity; affectation and arrogance were unknown to her. Her beauty and accomplishments made her the admiration of all beholders, the love of all that enjoyed her company. Think, then, what the pangs of her wretched parents must be on so cruel a separation. Their only comfort is in the certitude of her being completely happy beyond the reach of pain, and for ever freed from the miseries of this life. She can never feel the torments they endure for the loss of a beloved child. Blame them not for indulging an innocent pride in transmitting her memory to posterity as an honour to her family and to her native country England. Let this plain character, penned by her disconsolate father, draw a tear of pity from every eye that peruses it."

The arm of St. Thomas à Becket is the chief "relic" preserved here.

At the end of the street are two exceedingly ugly little churches—very interesting from their associations. On the right is St. Girolamo della Carità, founded on the site of the house of Sta. Paula, where she received St Jerome upon his being called to Rome from the Thebaid by Pope Damasus in 392. Here he remained for three years, till, embittered by the scandal excited by his residence in the house of the widow, he returned to his solitude.

In 1519 S. Filippo Neri founded here a Confraternity for the distribution of dowries to poor girls, for the assistance of debtors, and for the maintenance of fourteen priests for the visitation and confession of the sick.

"Lorsque St. Philippe de Neri fut prêtre, il alla se loger à Saint-Jerôme della Carità, où il demeura trente-cinq ans, dans la société des pieux ecclésiastiques qui administraient les sacrements dans cette paroisse. Chaque soir, Philippe ouvrait, dans sa chambre qui existe encore, des conférences sur tous les points du dogme catholique; les jeunes gens affluaient à ces saintes réunions: on y voyait Baronius; Bordini, qui fut archevêque; Salviati, frère du cardinal; Tarugia, neveu du pape Jules III. Un désir ardent d'exercer ensemble le ministère de la prédication et les devoirs de la charité porta ces pieux jeunes gens à vivre en commun, sous la discipline du vertueux prêtre, dont le parole était si puissante sur leurs cœurs."—Gournerie.

The masterpiece of Domenichino, the Last Communion of St. Jerome, in which Sta. Paula is introduced kissing the hand of the dying saint, hung in this church till carried off to Paris by the French.

Opposite this is the Church of Sta. Brigitta, on the site of the dwelling of the saint, a daughter of the house of Brahé, and wife of Walfon, duke of Nericia, who came hither in her widowhood, to pass her declining years near the Tomb of the Apostles. With her, lived her daughter St. Catherine of Sweden, who was so excessively beautiful, and met with so many importunities in that wild time (1350), that she made a vow never to leave her own roof except to visit the churches. The crucifix, prayer-book, and black mantle of St. Bridget are preserved here.[302]

"St. Bridget exercised a reformatory influence as well upon the higher class of the priesthood in Rome as in Naples. For she did not alone satisfy herself with praying at the graves of the martyrs, she earnestly exhorted bishops and cardinals, nay, even the pope himself, to a life of the true worship of God and of good works, from which they had almost universally fallen, to devote themselves to worldly ambition. She awoke the consciences of many, as well by her prayers and remonstrances, as by her example. For she herself, of a rich and noble race, that of a Brahé, one of the nobles in Sweden, yet lived here in Rome, and laboured like a truly humble servant of Christ. 'We must walk barefoot over pride, if we would overcome it,' said she, and Brigitta Brahé did so; and, in so doing, overcame those proud hearts, and won them to God."—Frederika Bremer.

We now reach the Palazzo Farnese,—the most magnificent of all the Roman palaces,—begun by Paul III., Alessandro Farnese (1534—50), and finished by his nephew, Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. Its architects were Antonio di Sangallo, Michael Angelo, and Giacomo della Porta, who finished the façade towards the Tiber. The materials were plundered partly from the Coliseum and partly from the theatre of Marcellus; the granite basons of the fountains in front are from the baths of Caracalla. The immense size of the blocks of travertine used in the building give it a solid grandeur.

This palace was inherited by the Bourbon kings of Naples by descent from Elizabetta Farnese, who was the last of her line, and it has for the last few years been the residence of the Neapolitan Court, who have lived here in the utmost seclusion since their exile. For this reason the palace is now very seldom shown. Its vast halls are painted with the masterpieces of Annibale Caracci—huge mythological subjects,—and a few frescoes by Guido, Domenichino, Daniele da Volterra, Taddeo Zucchero, and others; but there has not been much to see since the dispersion of the Farnese gallery of sculpture, of which the best pieces (the Bull, Hercules, Flora, &c.) are in the museum at Naples. In the courtyard is the sarcophagus which is said once to have held the remains of Cecilia Metella.

"The painting the gallery at the Farnese Palace is supposed to have partly caused the death of Caracci. Without fixing any price he set about it, and employed both himself and all his best pupils nearly seven years in perfecting the work, never doubting that the Farnese family, who had employed him, would settle a pension upon him, or keep him in their service. When his work was finished they paid him as you would pay a house-painter, and this ill-usage so deeply affected him, that he took to drinking, and never painted anything great afterwards."—Miss Berry's Journals.

Behind the Palazzo Farnese runs the Via Giulia, which contains the ugly fountain of the Mascherone. Close to the arch which leads to the Farnese gardens is the church of Sta. Maria della Morte, or Dell' Orazione, built by Fuga. It is in the hands of a pious confraternity who devote themselves to the burial of the dead.

"L'église de la Bonne-Mort a son caveau, décoré dans le style funèbre comme le couvent des Capucins. On y conserve aussi élégamment que possible les os des noyés, asphyxiés et autres victimes des accidents. La confrérie de la Bonne-Mort va chercher les cadavres; un sacristain assez adroit les dessèche et les dispose en ornements. J'ai causé quelque temps avec cet artiste: 'Monsieur,' me disait-il, 'je ne suis heureux qu'ici, au milieu de mon œuvre. Ce n'est pas pour les quelques écus que je gagne tous les jours en montrant la chapelle aux étrangers; non; mais ce monument que j'entretiens, que j'embellie, que j'égaye par mon talent, est devenu l'orgueil et la joie de ma vie.' Il me montra ses matériaux, c'est-à-dire quelques poignées d'ossements jetés en tas dans un coin, fit l'éloge de la pouzzolane, et témoigna de son mépris pour la chaux. 'La chaux brûle les os,' me dit-il, 'elle les fait tomber en poussière. On ne peut faire rien de bon avec les os qui ont été dans la chaux. C'est de la drogue (robbaccia).'"—About.

Beyond the arch is the Palazzo Falconieri (with falcons at the corners), built by Borromini about 1650. There is something rather handsome in its tall three-arched loggia, as seen from the back of the courtyard, which overhangs the Tiber opposite the Farnesina. Cardinal Fesch (uncle of Napoleon I.) lived here, and here formed his fine gallery of pictures.

"The whole of Cardinal Fesch's collection was dispersed at his death, having been vainly offered by him, during the last years of his life, for sale to the English government, for an annuity of 4000l. per annum."—Eaton's Rome.

Further on are the Carceri Nuove, prisons established by Innocent X. (appropriately reached by the Via del Malpasso), and then the Palazzo Sacchetti, built by Antonio da Sangallo for his own residence, and adorned by him with the arms of his patron, Paul III., and the grateful inscription, "Tu mihi quodcumque hoc rerum est." The collection of statues which was formed here by Cardinal Ricci, was removed to the Capitol by Benedict XIV., and became the foundation of the present Capitoline collection.

In front of the Palazzo Farnese, beyond its own piazza, is that known as the Campo di Fiore, a centre of commerce among the working classes. Here the most terrible of the Autos da Fé were held by the Dominicans, in which many Jews and other heretics were burnt alive.

One of the most remarkable sufferers here was Giordano Bruno, who was born at Nola, A.D. 1550. His chief heresy was ardent advocacy of the Copernican system,—the author of which had died ten years before his birth. He was also strongly opposed to the philosophy of Aristotle, and gave great offence by setting forth views of his own, which strongly tended to pantheism. He visited Paris, England, and Germany, and everywhere excited hostility by the uncompromising expression of his opinions. It was at Venice that he first came into the power of his ecclesiastical enemies. After six years of imprisonment in that city, he was brought to Rome to be put to death. His execution took place in the Campo di Fiore on the 17th of February, 1600, in the presence of an immense concourse. It was noted that when the monks offered him the crucifix as he was led to the stake, he turned away and refused to kiss it. This put the finishing touch to his career, in the estimation of all beholders. Scioppus, the Latinist, who was present at the execution, with a sarcastic allusion to one of Bruno's heresies, the infinity of worlds, wrote, "The flames carried him to those worlds which he had imagined."[303]

On the left of this piazza is the gigantic Palace of the Cancelleria, begun by Cardinal Mezzarota, and finished in 1494 by Cardinal Riario, from designs of Bramante. The huge blocks of travertine of which it is built were taken from the Coliseum. The colonnades have forty-four granite pillars, said to have belonged to the theatre of Pompey. The roses with which their (added) capitals are adorned are in reference to the arms of Cardinal Riario, nephew of Sixtus IV.

This palace was the seat of the Tribunal of the Cancelleria Apostolica. In June, 1848, the Roman Parliament, summoned by Pius IX., was held here. In July, while the deputies were seated here, the mob burst into the council-chamber, and demanded the instant declaration of war against Austria. On the 16th of November, its staircase was the scene of the murder of Count Rossi.

"C'était le 16 Novembre, 1848, le ministre de Pie IX., voué dès longtemps à la mort, dont la presse séditieuse disait: 'Si la victime condamnée parvient à s'échapper, elle sera poursuivie sans relâche, en tout lieu, le coupable sera frappé par une main invisible, se fût-il réfugié sur le sein de sa mère ou dans le tabernacle du Christ.'

"Dans la nuit du 14 au 15 Novembre, de jeunes étudiants, réunis dans cette pensée, s'exercent sans frémir sur un cadavre apporté à prix d'or au théâtre Capranica, et quand leurs mains infâmes furent devenues assez sûres pour le crime, quand ils sont certains d'atteindre au premier coup la veine jugulaire, chacun se rend à son poste—'Gardez-vous d'aller au Palais Législatif, la mort vous y attend,' fait dire au ministre une Française alors à Rome, Madame la Comtesse de Menon: 'Ne sortez pas, ou vous serez assassiné!' lui écrit de son côté la Duchesse de Rignano. Mais l'intrépide Rossi, n'écoutant que sa conscience, arrive au Quirinal. A son tour le pape le conjure d'être prudent, de ne point s'exposer, afin, lui dit-il, 'd'éviter à nos ennemis un grand crime, et à moi une immense douleur.'—'Ils sont trop lâches, ils n'oseront pas.' Pie IX. le bénit et il continue de se diriger vers la chancellerie....

" ... Sa voiture s'arrête, il descend au milieu d'hommes sinistres, leur lance un regard de dédain, et continuant sans crainte ni peur, il commence à mouter; la foule le presse en sifflant, l'un le frappe sur l'épaule gauche, d'un mouvement instinctif, il retourne la tête, découvrant la veine fatale, il tombe, se relève, monte quelques marches, et retombe inondé de sang."—M. de Bellevue.

Entered from the courtyard of the palace is the Church of SS. Lorenzo e Damaso, removed by Cardinal Riario in 1495, from another site, where it had been founded in 560 by the sainted pope Damasus. It consists of a short nave and aisles, and is almost square, with an apse and chapels. The doors are by Vignola. At the end of the left aisle is a curious black virgin, much revered. Opening from the right aisle is the chapel of the Massimi, with several tombs; a good modern monument of Princess Gabrielli, &c. Against the last pilaster is a seated statue of S. Hippolytus, Bishop of Porto, taken from that at the Lateran. His relics are preserved here, with those of S. Giovanni Calabita, and many other saints. The tomb of Count Rossi is also here, inscribed "Optimam mihi causam tuendam assumpsi, miserebitur Deus." The story of his death is told in the words: "Impiorum consilio meditata cæde occubuit." He was embalmed and buried on the very night of his murder, for fear of further outrage. St Francis Xavier used to preach in this church in the sixteenth century.

Standing a little back from the street, in the Via de' Baullari, is a pretty little palace, carefully finished in all its details, and attributed to Baldassare Peruzzi. It is sometimes called Palazzetto Farnese, sometimes Palazzo Linote, and is now almost in a state of ruin.

Turning to the left, in front of the Palazzo Farnese, we reach the Piazza Capo di Ferro, one side of which is occupied by the Palazzo Spada alla Regola, built in 1564, by Cardinal Capodifero, but afterwards altered and adorned by Borromini. The courtyard is very rich in sculptured ornament The palace is always visible, but has a rude and extortionate porter.

In a picturesque and dimly-lighted hall on the first-floor, partially hung with faded tapestries, is the famous statue believed to be that of Pompey, at the foot of which Julius Cæsar fell. Suetonius narrates that it was removed by Augustus from the Curia, and placed upon a marble Janus in front of the basilica. Exactly on that spot was the existing statue found, lying under the partition-wall of two houses, whose proprietors intended to evade disputes by dividing it, when Cardinal Capodifero interfered, and in return received it as a gift from Pope Julius III., who bought it for 500 gold crowns.

"And them, dread statue! yet existent in

The austerest form of naked majesty,—

Thou who beheldest 'mid the assassins' din,

At thy bathed base the bloody Cæsar lie,

Folding his robe in dying dignity,

An offering to thine altar from the queen

Of gods and men, great Nemesis! did he die,

And thou, too, perish, Pompey? have ye been

Victors of countless kings, or puppets of a scene?"

Byron, Childe Harold.

"I saw in the Palazzo Spada, the statue of Pompey: the statue at whose base Cæsar fell. A stem, tremendous figure! I imagined one of greater finish: of the last refinement: full of delicate touches: losing its distinctness in the giddy eyes of one whose blood was ebbing before it, and settling into some such rigid majesty as this, as Death came creeping over the upturned face."—Dickens.

"Cæsar was persuaded at first by the entreaties of his wife Calpurnia, who had received secret warning of the plot, to send an excuse to the senate; but afterwards, being ridiculed by Brutus for not going, was carried thither in a litter.... At the moment when Cæsar descended from his litter at the door of the hall, Popilius Læna approached him, and was observed to enter into earnest conversation with him. The conspirators regarded one another, and mutually revealed their despair with a glance. Cassius and others were grasping their daggers beneath their robes; the last resource was to despatch themselves. But Brutus, observing that the manner of Popilius was that of one supplicating rather than warning, restored his companions' confidence with a smile. Caesar entered; his enemies closed in a dense mass around him, and while they led him to his chair kept off all intruders. Trebonius was specially charged to detain Antonius in conversation at the door. Scarcely was the victim seated, when Tillius Cimber approached with a petition for his brother's pardon. The others, as was concerted, joined in the supplication, grasping his hands, and embracing his neck. Cæsar at first put them gently aside, but, as they became more importunate, repelled them with main force. Tillius seized his toga with both hands, and pulled it violently over his arms. Then P. Casca, who was behind, drew a weapon, and grazed his shoulder with an ill-directed stroke. Cæsar disengaged one hand, and snatched at the hilt, shouting, 'Cursed Casca, what means this?'—'Help,' cried Casca to his brother Lucius, and at the same moment the others aimed each his dagger at the devoted object. Cæsar for an instant defended himself, and even wounded one of his assailants with his stylus; but when he distinguished Brutus in the press, and saw the steel flashing in his hand also, 'What, thou too, Brutus!' he exclaimed, let go his hold of Casca, and drawing his robe over his face, made no further resistance. The assassins stabbed him through and through, for they had pledged themselves, one and all, to bathe their daggers in his blood. Brutus himself received a wound in their eagerness and trepidation. The victim reeled a few paces, propped by the blows he received on every side, till he fell dead at the foot of Pompeius' statue."—Merivale, ch. xxi.

The collection of pictures in this palace is little worth seeing. Among its other sculptures are eight grand reliefs, which, till 1620, were turned upside down, and used as a pavement in Sant' Agnese fuori Mura; and a fine statue of Aristotle.

"Aristote est à Rome, vous pouvons l'aller voir au palais Spada, tel que le peignent ses biographes et des vers de Christodore sur une statue qui était à Constantinople, les jambes grêles, les joues maigres, le bras hors du manteau, exserto brachio, comme dit Sidoine Apollinaire d'une autre statue qui était à Rome. Le philosophe est ici sans barbe aussi bien que sur plusieurs pierres gravées; on attribuait à Aristote l'habitude de se raser, rare parmi les philosophes et convenable à un sage qui vivait à la cour. Du reste, c'est bien là le maître de ceux qui savent, selon l'expression de Dante, corps usé par l'étude, tête petite mais qui enferme et comprend tout."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 547.

A little further, on the right, is the Church of the Trinità dei Pellegrini, built in 1614; the façade designed by Francesco de' Sanctis. It contains a picture of the Trinity by Guido.

The hospital attached to this church was founded by S. Filippo Neri for receiving and nourishing pilgrims of pious intention, who had come from more than sixty miles' distance, for a space of from three to seven days. It is divided into two parts, for males and females. Here, during the Holy Week, the feet of the pilgrims are publicly washed, those of the men by princes, cardinals, &c., those of the women by queens, princesses, and other ladies of rank. In this case the washing is a reality, the feet not having been "prepared beforehand," as for the Lavanda at St Peter's.

An authentic portrait of S. Filippo Neri is preserved here, said to have been painted surreptitiously by an artist who happened to be one of the inmates of the hospital. When S. Filippo saw it, he said, "You should not have stolen me unawares."

The building in front of this church is the Monte di Pietà, founded by the Padre Calvo, in the fifteenth century, to preserve the people from suffering under the usury of the Jews. It is a government establishment, where money is lent at the rate of five per cent. to every class of person. Poor people, especially "Donne di facenda," who have no work in the summer, thankfully avail themselves of this and pawn their necklaces and earrings, which they are able to redeem when the means of subsistence come back with the return of the forestieri. Many Roman servants go through this process annually, and though the Monte di Pietà is often a scene of great suffering when unredeemed goods are sold for the benefit of the establishment, it probably in the main serves to avert much evil from the poorer classes.

A short distance further, following the Via dei Specchi, surrounded by miserable houses (in one of which is a beautiful double gothic window, divided by a twisted column), is the small Church of Sta. Maria in Monticelli, which has a fine low campanile of 1110. Admission may always be obtained through the sacristy to visit the famous "miracle-working" picture called "Gesù Nazareno," a modern half-length of Our Saviour, with the eyelids drooping and half-closed. By an illusion of the painting, the eyes, if watched steadily, appear to open and then slowly to close again as if falling asleep,—in the same way that many English family portraits appear to follow the living bystanders with their eyes; but the effect is very curious. In the case of this picture, the pope turned Protestant, and disapproving of the attention it excited, caused its secret removal. Remonstrance was made, that the picture had been a "regalo" to the church, and ought not to be taken away, and when it was believed to be sufficiently forgotten, it was sent back by night. The mosaics in the apse of this obscure church are for the most part quite modern, but enclose a very grand and expressive head of the Saviour of the World, which dates from 1099, when it was ordered by Pope Paschal II.

A little to the left of this church is the Palazzo Santa Croce. This palace will bring to mind the murder of the Marchesa Costanza Santa Croce, by her two sons (because she would not name them her heirs), on the day when the fate of Beatrice Cenci was trembling in the balance, which brought about her condemnation—the then pope, Clement VIII., determining to make her terrible punishment "an example to all parricides."

Prince Santa Croce claims to be a direct descendant of Valerius Publicola, the "friend of the people," who is commemorated in the name of a neighbouring church, "Sancta Maria de Publicolis."

This is one of the few haunted houses in Rome: it is said that by night two statues of Santa Croce cardinals descend from their pedestals, and rattle their marble trains about its long galleries.

Hence a narrow street leads to the Church of S. Carlo a Catinari, built in the seventeenth century, from designs of Rosati and Soria. It is in the form of a Greek cross. The very lofty cupola is adorned with frescoes of the cardinal virtues by Domenichino, and a fresco of S. Carlo, by Guido, once on the façade of the church, is now preserved in the choir. Over the high altar is a large picture by Pietro da Cortona, of S. Carlo in a procession during the plague at Milan. In the first chapel on the right, is the Annunciation, by Lanfranco; in the second chapel, on the left, the Death of St. Anna, by Andrea Sacchi. On the pilaster of the last chapel on the right is a good modern tomb, with delicate detail. The cord which S. Carlo Borromeo wore round his neck in the penitential procession during the plague at Milan, is preserved as a relic here. The Catinari, from whom this church is named, were makers of wooden dishes, who had stalls in the adjoining piazza, or sold their wares on its steps. The street opening from hence (Via de Giubbonari) contains on its right the Palazzo Pio; at the back of which are the principal remains of The Theatre of Pompey, which was once of great magnificence. In the portico (of a hundred columns) attached to this theatre, Brutus sate as prætor, on the morning of the murder of Julius Cæsar, and close by was the Curia, or senate-house, where:

——"In his mantle muffling up his face,

Even at the base of Pompey's statue,

Which all the while ran blood, great Cæsar fell."[304]

Behind the remains of the theatre, perhaps on the very site of the Curia, rises the fine modern Church of S. Andrea della Valle,[305] begun in 1591, by Olivieri, and finished by Carlo Maderno. The façade is by Carlo Rainaldi. The cupola is covered with frescoes by Lanfranco, those of the four Evangelists at the angles being by Domenichino, who also painted the flagellation and glorification of St. Andrew in the tribune. Beneath the latter are frescoes of events in the life of St. Andrew by Calabrese.

"In the fresco of the Flagellation, the apostle is bound by his hands and feet to four short posts set firmly in the ground; one of the executioners, in tightening a cord, breaks it, and falls back; three men prepare to scourge him with thongs: in the foreground we have the usual group of the mother and her frightened children. This is a composition full of dramatic life and movement, but unpleasing."—Jameson's Sacred Art, p. 229.

In the second chapel on the left is the tomb of Giovanni della Casa, archbishop of Beneventum, 1556.

The last piers of the nave are occupied by the tombs of Pius II., Eneas Sylvius Piccolomini (1458—64), and Pius III., Todeschini (1503), removed from the old basilica of St. Peter's. The tombs are hideous erections in four stages, by Niccolo della Guardia and Pietro da Todi. The epitaph of the famous Eneas Sylvius is as good as a biography.

"Pius II., sovereign pontiff, a Tuscan by nation, by birth a native of Siena, of the family of the Piccolomini, reigned for six years. His pontificate was short, but his glory was great. He reunited a Christian Council (Basle) in the interests of the faith. He resisted the enemies of the holy Roman see, both in Italy and abroad. He placed Catherine of Siena amongst the saints of Christ. He abolished the Pragmatic Sanction in France. He re-established Ferdinand of Arragon in the kingdom of Sicily. He increased the power of the Church. He established the alum mines which were discovered near Talpha. Zealous for religion and justice, he was also remarkable for his eloquence. As he was setting out for the war which he had declared against the Turks, he died at Ancona. There he had already his fleet prepared, and the doge of Venice, with his senate, as companions in arms for Christ. Brought to Rome by a decree of the fathers, he was laid in this spot, where he had ordered the head of St. Andrew, which had been brought him from the Peloponnese, to be placed. He lived fifty-eight years, nine months, and twenty-seven days. Francis, cardinal of Siena, raised this to the memory of his revered uncle. MCDLXIV."

Pius III., who was the son of a sister of Eneas Sylvius, only reigned for twenty-six days. His tomb was the last to be placed in the old St. Peter's, which was pulled down by his successor.

To the right, from S. Andrea della Valle runs the Via della Valle, on the right of which is the Palazzo Vidoni (formerly called Caffarelli, and Stoppani), the lower portion of which was designed by Raphael, in 1513, the upper floor being a later addition. There are a few antiquities preserved here, among them the "Calendarium Prænestinum" of Verrius Flaccus, being five months of a Roman calendar found by Cardinal Stoppani at Palestrina. At the foot of the stairs is a statue of Marcus Aurelius. At one corner of the palace on the exterior is the mutilated statue familiarly known as the Abbate Luigi, which was made to carry on witty conversation with the Madama Lucrezia near S. Marco, as Pasquin did with Marforio.

To the left from St. Andrea della Valle runs the Via S. Pantaleone, on the right of which, cleverly fitting into an angle of the street, is the gloomy but handsome Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne, built c. 1526 by Baldassare Peruzzi. The semi-circular portico has six Doric columns. The staircase and fountain are peculiar and picturesque. In the loggia is a fine antique lion.

The palace is not often shown, but is a good specimen of one of the smaller Roman princely houses. In the drawing-room, well placed, is the famous Statue of the Discobolus, a copy of the bronze statue of Myron, found in 1761, upon the Esquiline, near the ruined nymphæum known as the Trophies of Marius. This is more beautiful and better preserved than the Discobolus of the Vatican, of which the head is modern.

"Le tête du discobole Massimi se retourne vers le bras qui lance le disque, απεστραμμἱνον εἱς τἡν δισκοφὁρον. Cette tête est admirable, ce qui est encore une resemblance avec Myron, qui excellait dans les têtes comme Polyclète dans les poitrines et Praxitèle dans les bras."—Ampère, iii. 271.

The entrance-hall has its distinctive dais and canopy adorned with the motto of the family "Cunctando Restituit," in allusion to the descent which they claim from the great dictator Fabius Maximus, who is described by Ennius as having "saved the republic by delaying."

"Napoléon interpella un Massimo avec cette brusquerie qui intimidait tant de gens: 'Est il vrai,' lui dit-il, 'que vous descendiez de Fabius-Maximus?'

"'—Je ne saurais le prouver,' répondit le noble romain, 'mais c'est un bruit qui court depuis plus de mille ans dans notre famille.'"—About.

On the second floor is a chapel in memory of the temporary resuscitation to life by S. Filippo Neri of Paul Massimo, a youth of fourteen, who had died of a fever, March 16th, 1584.

"S. Filippo Neri was the spiritual director of the Massimo family; it is in his honour that the Palazzo Massimo is dressed up in festal guise every 16th of March. The annals of the family narrate, that the son and heir of Prince Fabrizio Massimo died of a fever at the age of fourteen, and that St. Philip, coming into the room amid the lamentations of the father, mother, and sisters, laid his hand upon the brow of the youth, and called him by his name, on which he revived, opened his eyes, and sate up—'Art thou unwilling to die?' asked the saint. 'No,' sighed the youth. 'Art thou resigned to yield thy soul to God?' 'I am.' 'Then go,' said Philip. 'Va, che sii benedetto, e prega Dio per noi.'—The boy sank back on his pillow with a heavenly smile on his face and expired."—Jameson's Monastic Orders.

The back of the palace towards the Piazza Navona is covered with curious frescoes in distemper by Daniele di Volterra.

In buildings belonging to this palace, Pannartz and Schweinheim established the first printing-office in Rome in 1455. The rare editions of this time bear in addition to the name of the printers, the inscription, "In ædibus Petri de Maximis."

"Conrad Sweynheim et Arnold Pannartz s'établirent près de Subiaco, au monastère de Sainte-Scholastique, qui était occupé par les Bénédictins de leur nation, et publièrent successivement, avec le concours des moines, les [Oe]uvres de Lactance, la Cité de Dieu de saint Augustin, et le traité de Oratore de Cicéron. En 1467, ils se transportèrent à Rome, au palais Massimi, où ils s'associèrent Jean André de Bussi, évêque d'Aleria, qui avait étudié sous Victorin de Feltre, et dont la science leur fut d'une haute utilité pour la correction de leurs textes. Le savant évêque leur donnait son temps, ses veilles:—'Malheureux métier,' disait-il, 'qui consiste non pas à chercher des perles dans le fumier, mais du fumier parmi les perles!'—Et cependant il s'y adonnait avec passion, sans même y trouver l'aisance. Les livres, en effet, se vendirent d'abord si mal que Jean-André de Bussi n'avait pas toujours de quoi se faire faire la barbe. Les premiers livres qu'il publia chez Conrad et Arnold furent la Grammaire de Donatus, à trois cents exemplaires, et les Épitres familières de Cicéron, à cinq cent cinquante."—Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne, ii. 79, 1.

Further, on the right, is the modernized Church of S. Pantaleone, built originally in 1216 by Honorius III., and given by Gregory XV., in 1641, to S. Giuseppe Calasanza, founder of the Order of the Scolopians, and of the institution of the Scuola Pia. He died in 1648, and is buried here in a porphyry sarcophagus.

Adjoining this, is the very handsome Palazzo Braschi, the last result of papal nepotism in Rome,—built at the end of the last century by Morelli, for the Duke Braschi, nephew of Pius VI. The staircase, which is, perhaps, the finest in Rome, is adorned with sixteen columns of red oriental granite. Annual subscription balls for charities are held in this palace.

At the further corner of the Braschi palace stands the mutilated but famous statue called Pasquino, from a witty tailor, who once kept a shop opposite, and who used to entertain his customers with all the clever scandal of the day. After the tailor's death his name was transferred to the statue, on whose pedestal were appended witty criticisms on passing events, sometimes in the form of dialogues which Pasquino was supposed to hold with his friend Marforio, another statue at the foot of the Capitol. From the repartees appended to this statue the term Pasquinade is derived.

Pasquin has naturally been regarded as a mortal enemy by the popes, who, on several occasions, have made vain attempts to silence him. The bigoted Adrian VI. wished to have the statue burnt and then thrown into the Tiber, but it was saved by the suggestion of Ludovico Suessano, that his ashes would turn into frogs, who would croak louder than he had done. When Marforio, in the hope of stopping the dialogues, was shut up in the Capitoline museum, the pope attempted to incarcerate Pasquino also, but he was defended by his proprietor, Duke Braschi. Among offensive Pasquinades which have been placed here are:

"Venditur hic Christus, venduntur dogmata Petri,

Descendam infernum ne quoque vendar ego."

Among the earliest Pasquinades were those against the venality and evil life of Alexander VI. (Rodrigo Borgia, 1492—1503):

"Vendit Alexander claves, altaria, Christum:

Emerat ille prius, vendere jure potest."

and,

"Sextus Tarquinius, Sextus Nero—Sextus et iste;

Semper sub Sextis perdita Roma fuit."

and, upon the body of his son Giovanni, murdered by his brother Cæsar Borgia, being fished up on the following day from the Tiber:

"Piscatorem hominum re te non, Sexte, putemus,

Piscaris natum retibus ecce tuum."

In the reign of the warlike Julius II. (1503—13), of whom it is said that he threw the keys of Peter into the Tiber, while marching his army out of Rome, declaring that the sword of Paul was more useful to him:

"Cum Petri nihil efficiant ad prælia claves,

Auxilio Pauli forsitan ensis erit."

and, in allusion to his warlike beard:

"Huc barbam Pauli, gladium Pauli, omnia Pauli:

Claviger ille nihil ad mea vota Petrus."

At a moment of great unpopularity:

"Julius est Romæ, quid abest? Date, numina, Brutum.

Nam quoties Romæ est Julius, ilia perit."

In reference to the sale of indulgences and benefices by Leo X.:

"Dona date, astantes; versus ne reddite; sola

Imperat æthereis alma Moneta deis."

and to his love of buffoons:

"Cur non te fingi scurram, Pasquille, rogasti?

Cum Romæ scurris omnia jam licent."

and with reference to the death of Leo, suddenly, under suspicion of poison, and without the sacrament:

"Sacra sub extrema, si forte requiritis, horâ

Cur Leo non potuit sumere: vendiderat."

On the death of Clement VII. (1534), attributed to the mismanagement of his physician, Matteo Curzio:

"Curtius occidit Clementem—Curtius auro

Donandus, per quem publica parta salus."

To Paul III. (1534—50) who attempted to silence him, Pasquin replied:

"Ut canerent data multa olim sunt vatibus æra;

Ut taceam, quantum tu mihi, Paule, dabis."

Upon the spoliation of ancient Rome by Urban VIII.:

"Quod non fecerunt barbari, fecerunt Barberini."

Upon the passion of Innocent X. (1644—55) for his sister-in-law, Olympia Maldacchini:

"Magis amat Olympiam quam Olympum."

Upon Christina of Sweden, who died at Rome, in 1689:

"Regina senza Regno,

Christiana senza Fede,

E Donna senza Vergogna."

In reference to the severities of the Inquisition during the reign of Innocent XI. (1676—89):

"Se parliamo, in galera; se scriviamo, impiccati; se stiamo in quiete, al santo uffizio. Eh!—che bisogna fare?"

To Francis of Austria, on his visit to Rome:

"Gaudium urbis,—fletus provinciarum,—risus mundi."

After an awful storm, and the plunder of the works of art by Napoleon occurring together:

"L'Altissimo in sù, ci manda la tempesta,

L'Altissimo qua giù, ci toglia quel che resta,

E fra le Due Altissimi,

Stiamo noi malissimi."

During the stay of the French in Rome:

"I Francesi son tutti ladri."

. . . . . . .

"Non tutti—ma Buona parte."

Against the vain-glorious follies of Pius VI., Pasquin was especially bitter. Pius finished the sacristry of St. Peter's, and inscribed over its entrance, "Quod ad Templi Vaticani ornamentum publico vota flagitabant, Pius VI. fecit." The next day Pasquin retorted:

"Publica! mentiris! Non publica vota fuere,

Sed tumidi ingenii vota fuere tui."

Upon his nepotism, when building the Braschi palace:

"Tres habuit fauces, et terno Cerberus ore

Latratus intra Tartara nigra dabat.

Et tibi plena fame tria sunt vel quatuor ora

Quæ nulli latrant, quemque sed illa vocant."

And in allusion to the self-laudatory inscriptions of this pope upon all his buildings, at a time when the two-baiocchi loaf of the common people was greatly reduced in size; one of these tiny loaves was exhibited here, with the satirical notice, "Munificentia Pii Sexti."

But perhaps the most remarkable of all Pasquin's productions is his famous Antithesis Christi:

"Christus regna fugit—Sed vi Papa subjugat urbem.

Spinosam Christus—Triplicem gerit ille coronam.

Abluit ille pedes—Reges his oscula præbent.

Vectigal solvit—Sed clerum hic eximit omnem.

Pavit oves Christus—Luxum hic sectatur inertem.

Pauper erat Christus—Regna hic petit omnia mundi.

Bajulat ille crucem—Hic servis portatur avaris.

Spernit opes Christus—Auri hic ardore tabescit.

Vendentes pepulit templo—Quos suscipit iste.

Pace venit Christus—Venit hic radiantibus armis.

Christus mansuetus venit—Venit ille superbus.

Quas leges dedit hic—Præsul dissolvit iniquus.

Ascendit Christus—Descendit ad infera Præsul."

The statue called Pasquin is said to represent Menelaus with the body of Patroclus, and to be the same as two groups which still exist at Florence, but so little remains of either of these heroes, that it could only have been when overpowered by "L'esprit de contradiction," that Bernini protested that this was "the finest piece of ancient sculpture in Rome."

"A l'angle que forment deux rues de Rome se voit encore il Pasquino, nom donné par le peuple à un des plus beaux restes de la sculpture antique. Bernin, qui exagérait, disait le plus beau; cette assertion fut sur le point d'attirer un duel à celui qui se l'était permise. Tout homme qui s'avise d'avoir une opinion sur les monuments de Rome s'applaudira pour son compte, en le regrettant peut-être, qu'on ne prenne plus si à cœur les questions archéologiques."—Ampère, Hist. Rome, iii. 440.

"Jan. 16, 1870: The public opinion of Rome has only one traditional organ. It is that mutilated block of marble called Pasquin's statue ... on which are mysteriously affixed by unknown hands the frequent squibs of Roman mother-wit on the events of the day. That organ has now uttered its cutting joke on the Fathers in Council. Some mornings ago there was found pasted in big letters on this defaced and truncated stump of a once choice statue the inscription, 'Libero come il Concilio.' The sarcasm is admirably to the point."—Times.

Following the Via dell' Anima from hence, on the right, opposite the mediæval Torre Mellina, is the Church of Sant' Agnese. It was built in 1642 by Girolamo Rainaldi, in the form of a Greek cross, upon the site of the scaffold where St. Agnes, in her fourteenth year, was compelled to be burnt alive.[306] When

"The blessed Agnes, with her hands extended in the midst of the flames, prayed thus: 'It is to thee that I appeal, to thee, the all-powerful, adorable, perfect, terrible God. O my Father, it is through thy most blessed Son that I have escaped from the menaces of a sacrilegious tyrant, and have passed unblemished through shameful abominations. And thus I come to thee, to thee whom I have loved, to thee whom I have sought, and whom I have always chosen."—Roman Breviary.

Then the flames, miraculously changed into a heavenly shower, refreshed instead of burning her, and dividing in two, and leaving her uninjured, consumed her executioners, and the virgin saint cried:—

"I bless Thee, O Father of my God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who, by the power of this thy well-beloved Son, commanded the fire to respect me."

"At this age, a young girl trembles at an angry look from her mother; the prick of a needle draws tears as easily as a wound. Yet fearless under the bloody hands of her executioners, Agnes is immoveable under the heavy chains which weigh her down; ignorant of death, but ready to die, she presents her body to the point of the sword of a savage soldier. Dragged against her will to the altar, she holds forth her arms to Christ through the fires of the sacrifice; and her hand forms even in those blasphemous flames the sign which is the trophy of a victorious Saviour. She presents her neck and her two hands to the fetters which they bring for her, but it is impossible to find any small enough to encircle her delicate limbs."—St. Ambrose.

The statue of St. Sebastian in this church is an antique, altered by Maini, that of St. Agnes is by Ercole Ferrata; the bas-relief of St. Cecilia is by Antonio Raggi. Over the entrance is the half-length figure and tomb of Innocent X. (Gio. Battista Pamfili, 1644—55), an amiable but feeble pope, who was entirely governed by his strong-minded and avaricious sister-in-law, Olympia Maldacchini, who deserted him on his death-bed, making off with the accumulated spoils of his ten years' papacy, which enabled her son, Don Camillo, to build the Palazzo Doria Pamfili, in the Corso, and the beautiful Villa Doria Pamfili.[307]

"After the three days during which the body of Innocent remained exposed at St. Peter's, say the memoirs of the time, no one could be found who would undertake his burial. They sent to tell Donna Olympia to prepare for him a coffin, and an escutcheon, but she answered that she was a poor widow. Of all his other relations and nephews, not one gave any sign of life; so that at length the body was carried away into a chamber where the masons kept their tools. Some one, out of pity, placed a lighted tallow-candle near the head; and some one else having mentioned that the room was full of rats, and that they might eat the corpse, a person was found who was willing to pay for a watcher. And after another day had elapsed, Monsignor Scotti, the majordomo, had pity upon him, and prepared him a coffin of poplar-wood, and Monsignor Segni, Canon of St. Peter's, who had been his majordomo, and whom he had dismissed, returned him good for evil, and expended five crowns for his burial."—Gregorovius.

Beneath the church are vaulted chambers, said to be part of the house of infamy where St. Agnes was publicly exposed[308] before her execution.

"As neither temptation nor the fear of death could prevail with Agnes, Sempronius thought of other means to vanquish her resistance; he ordered her to be carried by force to a place of infamy, and exposed to the most degrading outrages. The soldiers, who dragged her thither, stripped her of her garments; and when she saw herself thus exposed, she bent down her head in meek shame and prayed; and immediately her hair, which was already long and abundant, became like a veil, covering her whole person from head to foot; and those who looked upon her were seized with awe and fear as of something sacred, and dared not lift their eyes. So they shut her up in a chamber, and she prayed that the limbs which had been consecrated to Jesus Christ should not be dishonoured, and suddenly she saw before her a white and shining garment, with which she clothed herself joyfully, praising God, and saying, 'I thank thee, O Lord, that I am found worthy to put on the garment of thine elect!' and the whole place was filled with miraculous light, brighter than the sun at noon-day.

*   *  *  *  *  *   *  *

"The chamber, which, for her preservation, was filled with heavenly light, has become, from the change of level all over Rome, as well as from the position of the church, a subterranean cell, and is now a chapel of peculiar sanctity, into which you descend by torchlight. The floor retains the old mosaic, and over the altar is a bas-relief, representing St. Agnes, with clasped hands, and covered only by her long tresses, while two ferocious soldiers drive her before them. The upper church, as a piece of architecture, is beautiful, and rich in precious marbles and antique columns. The works of art are all mediocre, and of the 17th century, but the statue over her altar has considerable elegance. Often have I seen the steps of this church, and the church itself, so crowded with kneeling worshippers at matins and vespers, that I could not make my way among them;—principally the women of the lower orders, with their distaffs and market baskets, who had come thither to pray, through the intercession of the patron saint, for the gifts of meekness and chastity,—gifts not abounding in these regions."—Jameson's Sacred Art.

Yorkshire maidens, anxious to know who their future spouse is to be, still consult St. Agnes on St Agnes' Eve, after 24 hours' abstinence from everything but pure spring water, in the distich:

"St. Agnes, be a friend to me,

In the boon I ask of thee;

Let me this night my husband see."

Here, on the festival of St. Agnes, the papal choir sing the antiphons of the virgin saint, and the hymn "Jesu Corona Virginum."

The front of Sant' Agnese opens upon the Piazza Navona, a vast oblong square on the site of the ancient Circus Agonalis, decorated with three fountains. That in the centre, by Bernini, supports an obelisk brought from the Circus of Maxentius, where it was erected in honour of Domitian. Around the mass of rock which supports the obelisk are figures of the gods of the four largest rivers (Danube, Nile, Ganges, Rio de la Plata). That of the Nile veiled his face, said Bernini, that he might not be shocked by the façade which was added by Borromini to the Church of St Agnes.

"Bernin s'ingéra de creuser un des fameux piliers de St. Pierre pour y pratiquer un petit escalier montant à la tribune; aussitôt le dôme prit coup et se fendit. On fut obligé de le relier tout entier avec un cercle de fer. Ce n'est point raillerie, le cercle y est encore; le mal n'a pas augmenté depuis. Par malheur pour le pauvre cavalier, on trouva dans les Mémoires de Michel-Ange qu'il avait recommandé, sub pœnâ capitis, de ne jamais toucher aux quatre piliers massifs faits pour supporter le dôme, sachant de quelle masse épouvantable il allait les charger; le pape voulait faire pendre Bernin, qui, pour se rédimer, inventa la fontaine Navone."—De Brosses.

The lower fountain, also by Bernini, is adorned with tritons and the figure of a Moor. The great palace to the right of the church is the Palazzo Pamfili, built by Rainaldi for Innocent X. in 1650. It possesses a ceiling painted by Pietro di Cortona with the adventures of Eneas. Its music-hall is still occasionally used for public concerts.

It was in this palace that the notorious Olympia Maldacchini, foundress of the Pamfili fortunes, besported herself during the reign of her brother-in-law, Innocent X.

"The great object of Donna Olympia was to keep at a distance from Innocent every person and every influence that could either lessen her own, or go shares in the profits to be extracted from it. For this, after all, was the great and ultimate scope of her exertions. To secure the profits of the papacy in hard cash; this was the problem. No appointment to office of any kind was made, except in consideration of a proportionable sum paid down into her own coffers. This often amounted to three or four years' revenue of the place to be granted. Bishoprics and benefices were sold as fast as they became vacant. One story is told of an unlucky disciple of Simon, who on treating with the popess, for a very valuable see, just fallen vacant, and hearing from her a price, at which it might be his, far exceeding all he could command, persuaded the members of his family to sell all they had for the purpose of making this profitable investment. The price was paid, and the bishopric was given to him, but with a fearful resemblance to the case of Ananias, he died within the year; and his ruined family saw the see a second time sold by the insatiable and incorrigible Olympia.... During the last year of Innocent's life, Olympia literally hardly ever quitted him. Once a week, we read, she left the Vatican, secretly by night, accompanied by several porters carrying sacks of coin, the proceeds of the week's extortions and sales, to her own palace. And, during these short absences, she used to lock the pope into his chamber, and take the key with her!"—Trollope's Life of Olympia Pamfili.

On the opposite side of the piazza, some architectural fragments denote the half-ruined Church of S. Giacomo degli Spagnuoli of the fifteenth century. It possesses a gothic rose window, which is almost unique in Rome. There is a handsome door on the other side towards the Via della Sediola. The lower end of the square near this is occupied by the Palazzo Lancellotti, built by Pirro Ligorio, behind which is the frescoed front of Palazzo Massimo, mentioned above. The Piazza Navona has been used as a market ever since 1447. In the hot months, the singular custom prevails of occasionally stopping the escape of water from the fountains, and so turning the square into a lake, through which the rich splash about in carriages, and eat ices and drink coffee in the water, while the poor look on from raised galleries. It is supposed that this practice is a remnant of the pleasures of the Naumachia, once annually exhibited almost on this very spot, formerly the Circus Agonalis.

Vitale Mascardi gives an extraordinary account of the magnificent tournament held here in 1634 in honour of the visit of Prince Alexander of Poland, when the piazza was hung with draperies of gold and silver, and Donna Anna Colonna and Donna Costanza Barberini awarded gorgeous prizes of diamonds to noble and princely competitors.

Nearly opposite Sant' Agnese, a short street leads (passing on the left, Arvotti's, the famous Roman-scarf shop) to the front of the Palazzo Madama, which is sometimes said to derive its name from Margaret of Parma, daughter of Charles V., who once occupied it, and sometimes from Catherine de' Medici, who also lived here, and under whom it was altered in its present form by Paolo Marucelli. The balcony towards the piazza is the scene every Saturday at noon of the drawing of the Roman lottery.

"In the middle of the balcony, on the rail, is fixed a glass barrel, with a handle to turn it round. Behind it stand three or four officials, who have been just now ushered in with a blast from two trumpeters, also stationed in the balcony. Immediately behind the glass barrel itself stands a boy of some twelve or thirteen years, dressed in the white uniform of one of the orphan establishments, with a huge white shovel hat. Some time is occupied by the folding, and putting into the barrel, pieces of paper, inscribed with the numbers, from one onwards. Each of these is proclaimed, as folded and put in, by one of the officials who acts as spokesman or crier. At last, after eighty-seven, eighty-eight, and eighty-nine have been given out, he raises his voice to a chant, and sings forth, Numero novanta, 'number ninety,' this completing the number put in.

"And now, or before this, appears on the balcony another character—no less a person than a Monsignore, who appears, not in his ordinary, but in his more solemn official costume; and this connects the ceremonial directly with the spiritual authority of the realm. And now commences the drawing. The barrel having been for some time turned rapidly round to shuffle the numbers, the orphan takes off his hat, makes the sign of the cross, and having waved his open hand in the air to show that it is empty, inserts it into the barrel, and draws out a number, giving it to the Monsignore, who opens it and hands it to the crier. This latter then proclaims it—'Prima-estratta, numero venti cinque.' Then the trumpets blow their blast, and the same is repeated four times more: the proclamation varying each time, Seconda estratta, Terza, Quatra, Quinta, etc., five numbers being thus the whole drawn, out of ninety put in. This done, with various expressions of surprise, delight, or disappointment from the crowd below, the officials disappear, the square empties itself, and all is as usual till the next Saturday at the same time....

"In almost every street in Rome are shops devoted to the purchase of lottery tickets. Two numbers purchased with the double chance of these two numbers turning up are called an ambo, and three purchased with the treble chance of those three turning up, are called a terno, and, of course, the higher and more perilous the stake, the richer the prize, if obtained."—Alford's Letters from Abroad.

"Les étrangers qui viennent à Rome commencent par blâmer sévèrement la loterie. Au bout de quelque temps, l'esprit de tolérance qui est dans l'air pénètre peu-à-peu jusqu'au fond de leur cerveau; ils excusent un jeu philanthropique qui fournit au pauvre peuple six jours d'espérances pour cinq sous. Bientôt, pour se rendre compte du mécanisme de la loterie, ils entrent euxmêmes dans un bureau, en évitant de se laisser voir. Trois mois après, ils poursuivent ouvertement une combinaison savante; ils ont une théorie mathématique qu'ils signeraient volontiers de leur nom; ils donnent des leçons aux nouveaux arrivés; ils érigent le jeu en principe et jurent qu'un homme est impardonnable s'il ne laisse pas une porte ouverte à la Fortune."—About, Rome Contemporaine.

The court at the back of the palazzo is now occupied by the General Post Office.

Close by is the Church of S. Luigi dei Francesi, rebuilt 1589, with a façade by Giacomo della Porta. It contains a number of tombs of eminent Frenchmen who have died in Rome, and some good pictures.

Following the right aisle, the second chapel has frescoes from the life of Sta. Cecilia, by Domenichino (she gives clothes to the poor,—is crowned by an angel with her husband Valerian,—refuses to sacrifice to idols,—suffers martyrdom,—enters into heaven).

"Domenichino is often cold and studied in the principal subject, while the subordinate persons have much grace, and a noble character of beauty. Of this the two frescoes in S. Luigi at Rome, from the life of Sta. Cecilia, are striking examples. It is not the saint herself, bestowing her goods from a balcony, who contributes the chief subject, but the masterly group of poor people struggling for them below. The same may be said of the death of the saint, where the admiration and grief of the bystanders are inimitable."—Kugler.

"Reclining on a couch, in the centre of the picture, her hand pressed on her bosom, her dying eyes raised to heaven, the saint is breathing her last; while female forms, of exquisite beauty and innocence, are kneeling around, or bending over her. The noble figure of an old man, whose clasped hands and bent brow seem to bespeak a father's affection, appears on one side; and lovely children, in all the playful graces of unconscious infancy, as usual in Domenichino's paintings, by contrast heighten, yet relieve, the deep pathos of the scene. From above, an angel—such an angel as Domenichino alone knew how to paint, a cherub form of light and loveliness—is descending on rapid wing, bearing to the expiring saint the crown and palm of glory."—Eaton's Rome.

The copy of Raphael's Sta. Cecilia over the altar is by Guido. The fourth chapel has on the right frescoes by Girolamo Sicciolante, on the left by Pellegrino da Bologna, the altar-piece is by Giacomo del Conte. The fifth chapel has on the right the monument of Agincourt (ob. 1814), the famous archæologist, on the left that of Guerin the painter.

The high altar has an Assumption by Bassano.

The first chapel in the left aisle has a St. Sebastian by Massei. In the fifth chapel, of St. Matthew, three pictures by Caravaggio represent the vocation and martyrdom of that saint.

"The paintings of Caravaggio at S. Luigi belong to his most comprehensive works. The Martyrdom of St Matthew, with the angel with a palm branch squatting upon a cloud, and a boy running away, screaming, though highly animated, is an offensive production. On the other hand, the Calling of the Apostle may be considered as a genre picture of grand characteristic figures; for instance, those of the money-changers and publican at the table; some of them counting money, others looking up astonished at the entrance of the Saviour."—Kugler.

"Over the altar is St. Matthew writing his Gospel; he looks up at the attendant angel, who is behind with outspread wings, and in the act of dictating. On the left is the Calling of St. Matthew: the saint, who has been counting money, rises with one hand on his breast, and turns to follow the Saviour: an old man, with spectacles on his nose, examines with curiosity the personage whose summons has had such a miraculous effect: a boy is slyly appropriating the money which the apostle has thrown down. The third picture is the martyrdom of the saint, who, in the sacerdotal habit, lies extended on a block; while a half-naked executioner raises the sword, and several spectators shrink back with horror. There is nothing dignified or poetical in these representations; and though painted with all that power of effect which characterized Caravaggio, then at the height of his reputation, they have also his coarseness of feeling and execution: the priests were (not without reason) dissatisfied; and it required all the influence of his patron, Cardinal Giustiniani, to induce them to retain the pictures in the church where we now see them."—Jameson's Sacred Art, p. 146.

Amongst the monuments scattered over this church are those of Cardinal d'Ossat, ambassador of Henry IV.; Cardinal de la Grange d'Arquien, father-in-law of Sobieski, who died at the age of 105; Cardinal de la Trémouille, ambassador of Louis XIV.; Madame de Montmorin, with an epitaph by Chateaubriand; and Claude Lorraine, who is buried at the Trinità di Monti.

The pillars which separate the nave and aisles are of splendid Sicilian jasper. They were intended for S. Ignazio, but when the Order of the Jesuits was dissolved by Clement XIV., he presented them to S. Luigi.

The site of this church, the Palazzo Madama, and their adjoining buildings, was once occupied by the baths of Nero. They are commemorated by the name of the small church "S. Salvatore in Thermis."

In front of S. Luigi are the Palaces Patrizi and Giustiniani, and, following—to the right—the Via della Sediola, on the left is the entrance to the University of the Sapienza, founded by Innocent IV. in 1244 as a law school. Its buildings were begun by Pius III. and Julius II., and extended by Leo X. on plans of Michael Angelo. The portico was built under Gregory XIII. by Giacomo della Porta. The northern façade was erected by Borromini, with the ridiculous church (S. Ivo), built in the form of a bee to flatter Urban VIII., that insect being his device. The building is called the Sapienza, from the motto, "Initium Sapientiæ timor Domini," engraved over the window above the principal entrance. Forty professors teach here all the different branches of law, medicine, theology, philosophy, and philology.

Behind the Sapienza is the small Piazza di S. Eustachio, containing on three sides the Giustiniani, Lante, and Maccarini palaces, and celebrated for the festival of the Befana,[309] which takes place here.

"The Piazza and all the adjacent streets are lined with booths covered with every kind of plaything for children. These booths are gaily illuminated with rows of candles and the three-wick'd brass lucerne of Rome; and at intervals, painted posts are set into the pavement, crowned with pans of grease, with a wisp of tow for wick, from which flames blaze and flare about. Besides these, numbers of torches carried about by hand lend a wavering and picturesque light to the scene. By eight o'clock in the evening crowds begin to fill the piazza and the adjacent streets. Long before one arrives the squeak of penny-trumpets is heard at intervals; but in the piazza itself the mirth is wild and furious, and the din that salutes one's ears on entering is almost deafening. The object of every one is to make as much noise as possible, and every kind of instrument for this purpose is sold at the booths. There are drums beating, tamburelli thumping and jingling, pipes squeaking, watchman's rattles clacking, penny-trumpets and tin-horns shrilling, the sharpest whistles shrieking,—and mingling with these is heard the din of voices, screams of laughter, and the confused burr and buzz of a great crowd. On all sides you are saluted by the strangest noises. Instead of being spoken to, you are whistled at. Companies of people are marching together in platoons, or piercing through the crowd in long files, and dancing and blowing like mad on their instruments. It is a perfect witches' Sabbath. Here, huge dolls dressed as Polichinello or Pantaloon are borne about for sale,—or over the heads of the crowd great black-faced jumping-jacks, lifted on a stick, twitch themselves in fantastic fits,—or, what is more Roman than all, long poles are carried about strung with rings of hundreds of Giambelli (a light cake, called jumble in English), which are screamed for sale at a mezzo baiocco each. There is no alternative but to get a drum, whistle, or trumpet, and join in the racket,—and to fill one's pocket with toys for the children, and absurd presents for one's older friends. The moment you are once in for it, and making as much noise as you can, you begin to relish the jest. The toys are very odd, particularly the Roman whistles; some of these are made of pewter, with a little wheel that whirls as you blow; others are of terra-cotta, very rudely modelled into every shape of bird, beast, or human deformity, each with a whistle in its head, breast, or tail, which it is no joke to hear, when blown close to your ears by a stout pair of lungs. The scene is extremely picturesque. Above, the dark vault of night, with its far stars, the blazing and flaring of lights below, and the great, dark walls of the Sapienza and church looking down grimly upon the mirth."—Story's Roba di Roma.

The Church of S. Eustachio commemorates one, who, first a brave soldier of the army of Titus in Palestine, became master of the horse under Trajan, and general under Hadrian, and who suffered martyrdom for refusing to sacrifice to idols, by being roasted alive in a brazen bull before the Coliseum, with his wife Theophista, and his sons, Agapetus and Theophistus. The relics of these saints repose in a porphyry sarcophagus under the high altar. The stags' heads on the portico and on the apex of the gable refer to the legend of the conversion of St. Eustace.

"One day, while hunting in the forest, he saw before him a white stag, of marvellous beauty, and he pursued it eagerly, and the stag fled before him, and ascended a high rock. Then Placidus (Eustace was called Placidus before his conversion), looking up, beheld, between the horns of the stag, a cross of radiant light, and on it the image of the crucified Redeemer; and being astonished and dazzled by this vision, he fell on his knees, and a voice which seemed to come from the crucifix cried to him, and said, 'Placidus! why dost thou pursue me? I am Christ, whom thou hast hitherto served without knowing me. Dost thou now believe?' And Placidus fell with his face to the earth, and said, 'Lord, I believe!' And the voice answered, saying, 'Thou shall suffer many tribulations for my sake, and shalt be tried by many temptations; but be strong and of good courage, and I will not forsake thee.' To which Placidus replied, 'Lord, I am content. Do thou give me patience to suffer!' And when he looked up again the glorious vision had departed."—Jameson's Sacred Art, p. 792.

A similar story is told of St. Hubert, St. Julian, and St. Felix.

A fresco of St. Peter, by Pierino del Vaga, in this church, was much admired by Vasari, who dilates upon the boldness of its design, the simple folds of its drapery, its careful drawing and judicious treatment.

Two streets lead from the Piazza S. Eustachio to—

The Pantheon, the most perfect pagan building in the city, built B.C. 27, by Marcus Agrippa, the bosom friend of Augustus Cæsar, and the second husband of his daughter Julia. The inscription in huge letters, perfectly legible from beneath, "M. AGRIPPA. L. F. COS. TERTIUM FECIT," records its construction. Another inscription on the architrave, now almost illegible, records its restoration under Septimius Severus and his son Caracalla, c. 202, who, "Pantheum vetustate corruptum cum omni cultu restitverunt." Some authorities have maintained that the Pantheon was originally only a vast hall in the baths of Agrippa, acknowledged remains of which exist at no great distance; but the name "Pantheum" was in use as early as A.D. 59.

In A.D. 399 the Pantheon was closed as a temple in obedience to a decree of the Emperor Honorius, and in 608 was consecrated as a Christian church by Pope Boniface IV., with the permission of the Emperor Phocas, under the title of Sta. Maria ad Martyres. To this dedication we owe the preservation of the main features of the building, though it had been terribly maltreated. In 663 the Emperor Constans, who had come to Rome with great pretence of devotion to its shrines and relics, and who only staid there twelve days, did not scruple, in spite of its religious dedication, to strip off the tiles of gilt bronze with which the roof was covered, and carry them off with him to Syracuse, where, upon his murder, a few years after, they fell into the hands of the Saracens. In 1087 it was used by the anti-pope Guibert as a fortress, whence he made incursions upon the lawful pope, Victor III., and his protector, the Countess Matilda. In 1101, another anti-pope, Sylvester IV., was elected here. Pope Martin V., after the return from Avignon, attempted the restoration of the Pantheon by clearing away the mass of miserable buildings in which it was encrusted, and his efforts were continued by Eugenius IV., but Urban VIII. (1623—44), though he spent 15,000 scudi upon the Pantheon, and added the two ugly campaniles, called in derision "the asses' ears," of their architect, Bernini, did not hesitate to plunder the gilt bronze ceiling of the portico, 450,250 lbs. in weight, to make the baldacchino of St. Peter's, and cannons for the Castle of S. Angelo. Benedict XIV. (1740—58) further despoiled the building by tearing away all the precious marbles which lined the attic, to ornament other buildings.

The Pantheon was not originally, as now, below the level of the piazza, but was approached by a flight of five steps. The portico, which is 110 feet long and 44 feet deep, is supported by sixteen grand Corinthian columns of oriental granite, 36 feet in height. The ancient bronze doors remain. On either side are niches, once occupied by colossal statues of Augustus and Agrippa.

"Agrippa wished to dedicate the Pantheon to Augustus, but he refused, and only allowed his statue to occupy a niche on the right of the peristyle, while that of Agrippa occupied the niche on the left."—Merivale.

The Interior is a rotunda, 143 feet in diameter, covered by a dome. It is only lighted by an aperture in the centre, 28 feet in diameter. Seven great niches around the walls once contained statues of different gods and goddesses, that of Jupiter being the central figure. All the surrounding columns are of giallo-antico, except four, which are of pavonazzetto, painted yellow. It is a proof of the great value and rarity of giallo-antico, that it was always impossible to obtain more to complete the set.

"L'intérieur du Panthéon, comme l'extérieur, est parfaitement conservé, et les édicules, placés dans le pourtour du temple forment les chapelles de l'église. Jamais la simplicité ne fut alliée à la grandeur dans une plus heureuse harmonie. Le jour, tombant d'en haut et glissant le long des colonnes et des parois de marbre, porte dans l'âme un sentiment de tranquillité sublime, et donne à tous les objets, dit Serlio, un air de beauté. Vue du dehors, la coupole de plomb qui a remplacé l'ancienne coupole de bronze couverte de tuiles dorées, fait bien comprendre l'expression de Virgile, lequel l'avait sous les yeux et peut-être en vue, quand il écrivait:

... 'Media testudine templi.'

En effet, cette coupole surbaissée ressemble tout à fait à la carapace d'une tortue."—Ampère, Emp. i. 342.

"Being deep in talk, it so happened that they found themselves near the majestic, pillared portico and huge black rotundity of the Pantheon. It stands almost at the central point of the labyrinthine intricacies of the modern city, and often presents itself before the bewildered stranger when he is in search of other objects. Hilda, looking up, proposed that they should enter.

"They went in, accordingly, and stood in the free space of that great circle, around which are ranged the arched recesses and stately altars, formerly dedicated to heathen gods, but Christianized through twelve centuries gone by. The world has nothing else like the Pantheon. So grand it is, that the pasteboard statues over the lofty cornice do not disturb the effect, any more than the tin crowns and hearts, the dusty artificial flowers, and all manner of trumpery gewgaws, hanging at the saintly shrines. The rust and dinginess that have dimmed the precious marble on the walls; the pavement, with its great squares and rounds of porphyry and granite, cracked crosswise and in a hundred directions, showing how roughly the troublesome ages have trampled here; the grey dome above, with its opening to the sky, as if heaven were looking down into the interior of this place of worship, left unimpeded for prayers to ascend the more freely: all these things make an impression of solemnity, which St. Peter's itself fails to produce.

"'I think,' said Kenyon, 'it is to the aperture in the dome—that great eye, gazing heavenward—that the Pantheon owes the peculiarity of its effect. It is so heathenish, as it were—so unlike all the snugness of our modern civilization! Look, too, at the pavement directly beneath the open space! So much rain has fallen there, in the last two thousand years, that it is green with small, fine moss, such as grows over tombstones in damp English churchyards.'

"'I like better,' replied Hilda, 'to look at the bright, blue sky, roofing the edifice where the builders left it open. It is very delightful, in a breezy day, to see the masses of white cloud float over the opening, and then the sunshine fall through it again, fitfully, as it does now. Would it be any wonder if we were to see angels hovering there, partly in and partly out, with genial, heavenly faces, not intercepting the light, but transmuting it into beautiful colours? Look at that broad, golden beam—a sloping cataract of sunlight—which comes down from the aperture, and rests upon the shrine, at the right hand of the entrance.'"—Hawthorne.

... "'Entrons dans le temple,' dit Corinne: 'vous le voyez, il reste découvert presque comme il l'était autrefois. On dit que cette lumière qui venait d'en haut était l'emblème de la divinité supérieure à toutes les divinités. Les païens ont toujours aimé les images symboliques. Il semble en effet que ce langage convient mieux à la religion que la parole. La pluie tombe souvent sur ces parvis de marbre; mais aussi les rayons du soleil viennent éclairer les prières. Quelle sérénité; quel air de fête on remarque dans cet édifice! Les païens ont divinisé la vie, et les chrétiens ont divinisé la mort: tel est l'esprit des deux cultes.'"—Mad. de Staël.

"In the ancient Pantheon, when the music of Christian chaunts rises among the shadowy forms of the old vanished gods painted on the walls, and the light streams down, not from painted windows in the walls, but from the glowing heavens above, every note of the service echoes like a peal of triumph, and fills my heart with thankfulness."—Mrs. Charles.

"'Where,' asked Redschid Pasha, on his visit to the Pantheon, 'are the statues of the heathen gods?' 'Of course they were removed when the temple was Christianized,' was the natural answer. 'No,' he replied, 'I would have left them standing to show how the true God had triumphed over them in their own house."—Cardinal Wiseman.

"No, great Dome of Agrippa, thou art not Christian! canst not,

Strip and replaster and daub and do what they will with thee, be so!

Here underneath the great porch of colossal Corinthian columns,

Here as I walk, do I dream of the Christian belfries above them;

Or, on a bench as I sit and abide for long hours, till thy whole vast

Round grows dim as in dreams to my eyes, I repeople thy niches,

Not with the martyrs, and saints, and confessors, and virgins, and children,

But with the mightier forms of an older, austerer worship;

And I recite to myself, how

'eager for battle here

Stood Vulcan, here matronal Juno,

And, with the bow to his shoulder faithful,

He who with pure dew laveth of Castaly

His flowing locks, who holdeth of Lycia

The oak forest and the wood that bore him,

Delos' and Patara's own Apollo.'"

A. H. Clough.

Some antiquarians have supposed that the aperture at the top of the Pantheon was originally closed by a huge "Pigna," or pine-cone of bronze, like that which crowned the summit of the mausoleum of Hadrian, and this belief has been encouraged by the name of a neighbouring church being S. Giovanni della Pigna.

The Pantheon has become the burial-place of painters. Raphael, Annibale Caracci, Taddeo Zucchero, Baldassare Peruzzi, Pierino del Vaga, and Giovanni da Udine, are all buried here.

The third chapel on the left contains the tomb of Raphael (born April 6, 1483; died April 6, 1520). From the pen of Cardinal Bembo is the epigram:

"Ille hic est Raphael, timuit quo sospite vinci

Rerum magna parens, et moriente mori"[310]

"Raphael mourut à l'âge de 37 ans. Son corps resta exposé pendant trois jours. Au moment où l'on s'apprêtait à le descendre dans sa dernière demeure, on vit arriver le pape (Leon X.) qui se prosterna, pria quelques instants, bénit Raphael, et lui prit pour la dernière fois la main, qu'il arrosa de ses larmes (si prostrò innanzi l'estinto Rafaello et baciogli quella mano, tra le lagrime). On lui fit de magnifiques funérailles, auxquelles assistèrent les cardinaux, les artistes, &c."—A. Du Pays.

"When Raphael went,

His heavenly face the mirror of his mind,

His mind a temple for all lovely things

To flock to and inhabit—when He went,

Wrapt in his sable cloak, the cloak he wore,

To sleep beneath the venerable Dome,

By those attended, who in life had loved,

Had worshipped, following in his steps to Fame,

('Twas on an April-day, when Nature smiles,)

All Rome was there. But, ere the march began,

Ere to receive their charge the bearers came,

Who had not sought him? And when all beheld

Him, where he lay, how changed from yesterday,

Him in that hour cut off, and at his head

His last great work;[311] when, entering in, they looked

Now on the dead, then on that masterpiece,

Now on his face, lifeless and colourless,

Then on those forms divine that lived and breathed,

And would live on for ages—all were moved;

And sighs burst forth, and loudest lamentations."

Rogers.

Taddeo Zucchero and Annibale Caracci are buried on either side of Raphael. Near the high altar is a monument to Cardinal Gonsalvi (1757—1824), the faithful secretary and minister of Pius VII., by Thorwaldsen. This, however, is only a cenotaph, marking the spot where his heart is preserved. His body rests with that of his beloved brother Andrew in the church of S. Marcello.

During the middle ages the pope always officiated here on the day of Pentecost, when, in honour of the descent of the Holy Spirit, showers of white rose-leaves were continually sent down through the aperture during service.

"Though plundered of all its brass, except the ring which was necessary to preserve the aperture above; though exposed to repeated fire; though sometimes flooded by the river, and always open to the rain, no monument of equal antiquity is so well preserved as this rotunda. It passed with little alteration from the pagan into the present worship; and so convenient were its niches for the Christian altar, that Michael Angelo, ever studious of ancient beauty, introduced their design as a model in the Catholic church."—Forsyth.

"Simple, erect, severe, austere, sublime—

Shrine of all saints and temple of all gods,

From Jove to Jesus—spared and bless'd by time,

Looking tranquillity, while falls or nods

Arch, empire, each thing round thee, and man plods

His way through thorns to ashes—glorious dome!

Shalt thou not last? Time's scythe and tyrant's rods

Shiver upon thee—sanctuary and home

Of art and piety—Pantheon! pride of Rome!"

Byron, Childe Harold.

In the Piazza della Rotonda is a small Obelisk found in the Campus Martius.

"At a few paces from the streets where meat is sold, you will find gathered round the fountain in the Piazza della Rotonda, a number of bird-fanciers, surrounded by cages in which are multitudes of living birds for sale. Here are Java sparrows, parrots and parroquets, grey thrushes and nightingales, red-breasts (petti rossi), yellow canary-birds, beautiful sweet-singing little cardellini, and gentle ringdoves, all chattering, singing, and cooing together, to the constant splashing of the fountain. Among them, perched on stands, and glaring wisely out of their great yellow eyes, may be seen all sorts of owls, from the great solemn barbigiani, and white-tufted owl, to the curious little civetta, which gives its name to all sharp-witted heartless flirts, and the aziola, which Shelley has celebrated in one of his minor poems."—Story's Roba di Roma.

(Following the Via della Rotonda from hence, in the third street on the left is the small semicircular ruin called, from a fancied resemblance to the favourite cake of the people, Arco di Ciambella. This is the only remaining fragment of the baths of Agrippa, unless the Pantheon itself was connected with them.)

Behind the Pantheon, is the Piazza della Minerva, where a small Obelisk was erected 1667 by Bernini, on the back of an elephant. It is exactly similar to the obelisk in front of the Pantheon, and they were both found near this site, where they formed part of the decorations of the Campus Martius. The hieroglyphics show that it dates from Hophres, a king of the 25th dynasty. On the pedestal is the inscription:

"Sapientis Ægypti insculptas obelisco figuras

Ab elephanto belluarum fortissimo gestari

Quisquis hic vides, documentum intellige

Robustæ mentis esse solidam sapientiam sustinere."

One side of the piazza is occupied by the mean ugly front of the Church of Sta. Maria sopra Minerva, built in 1370 upon the ruins of a temple of Minerva founded by Pompey. It is the only gothic church in Rome of importance. In 1848—55 it was redecorated with tawdry imitation marbles, which have only a good effect when there is not sufficient light to see them. In spite of this, the interior is very interesting, and its chapels are a perfect museum of relics of art or history. The services, too, in this church were, under the papal government, exceedingly imposing, especially the procession on the night before Christmas, the mass of St. Thomas Aquinas, and that of "the white mule day." Some celebrated divine generally preaches here at 11 A.M. every morning in Lent.

Hither, on the feast of the Annunciation, comes the famous "Procession of the White Mule," when the host is borne by the grand almoner riding on the papal mule, followed by the pope in his glass coach, and a long train of cardinals and other dignitaries. Up to the time of Pius VI., it was the pope himself who rode upon the white mule, but Pius VII. was too infirm, and since his time they have given it up. But this procession has continued to be one of the finest spectacles of the kind, and has been an opportunity for a loyal demonstration, balconies being hung with scarlet draperies, and flowers showered down upon the papal coach, while the pope, on arriving and departing, has usually been received with tumultuous "evivas."

On the right of the entrance is the tomb of Diotisalvi, a Florentine knight, ob. 1482. Beginning the circuit of the church by the right aisle, the first chapel has a picture of S. Ludovico Bertrando, by Baciccio, the paintings on the pilasters being by Muziano. In the second, the Colonna Chapel, is the tomb of the late Princess Colonna (Donna Isabella Alvaria of Toledo) and her child, who both died at Albano in the cholera of 1867. The third chapel is that of the Gabrielli family. The fourth is that of the Annunciation. Over its altar is a most interesting picture, shown as a work of Fra Angelico, but more probably that of Benozzo Gozzoli. It represents Monsignore Torquemada attended by an angel, presenting three young girls to the Virgin, who gives them dowries: the Almighty is seen in the clouds. Torquemada was a Dominican Cardinal, who founded the association of the Santissima-Annunziata, which holds its meetings in this chapel, and which annually gives dowries to a number of poor girls, who receive them from the pope when he comes here in state on the 25th of March. On this occasion, the girls who are to receive the dowries are drawn up in two lines in front of the church. Some are distinguished by white wreaths. They are those who are going to "enter into religion," and who consequently receive double the dowry of the others, on the plea that "money placed in the hands of religion bears interest for the poor."

Torquemada is himself buried in this chapel, opposite the tomb, by Ambrogio Buonvicino, of his friend Urban VII., Giov. Battista Castagna, 1590,—who was pope only for eleven days.

The fifth chapel is the burial-place of the Aldobrandini family. It contains a faded Last Supper, by Baroccio.

"The Cenacolo of Baroccio, painted by order of Clement VIII. (1594), is remarkable for an anecdote relating to it. Baroccio, who was not eminent for a correct taste, had in his first sketch reverted to the ancient fashion of placing Satan close behind Judas, whispering in his ear, and tempting him to betray his master. The pope expressed his dissatisfaction,—'che non gli piaceva il demonio se dimesticasse tanto con Gesù Christo,'—and ordered him to remove the offensive figure."—Jameson's Sacred Art, p. 277.

Here are the fine tombs erected by Clement VIII. (Ippolito Aldobrandini) as soon as he obtained the papacy, to his father and mother. Their architecture is by Giacomo della Porta, but the figures are by Cordieri, the sculptor of Sta. Silvia's statue. At the sides of the mother's tomb are figures emblematical of Charity, by that of the father, figures of Humility and Vanity. Beyond his mother's tomb is a fine statue of Clement VIII. himself (who is buried at Sta. Maria Maggiore), by Ippolito Buzi.

"Hippolyte Aldobrandini, qui prit le nom de Clément VIII., était le cinquième fils du célèbre jurisconsulte Silvestro Aldobrandini, qui, après avoir professé à Pise et joui d'une haute autorité à Florence, avait été condamné à l'exil par le retour au pouvoir des Médicis ses ennemis. La vie de Silvestre devint alors pénible et calamiteuse. Dépouillé de ses biens, il fut, du moins, toujours ennoblir son malheur par la dignité de son caractère. Sa famille présentait un rare assemblage de douces vertus et de jeunes talents qu'une forte éducation développait chaque jour avec puissance. Appelé à Rome par Paul III., qui le nomma avocat consistorial, Silvester s'y transporta avec son épouse, la pieuse Leta Deti, qui, pendant trente-sept ans, fut pour lui comme son bon ange, et avec tous ses enfants, Jean, qui devait être un jour cardinal; Bernard, qui devint un vaillant guerrier; Thomas, qui préparait déjà peut-être sa traduction de Diogène-Laërce; Pierre, qui voulut être jurisconsulte comme son père; et le jeune Hippolyte, un enfant alors, dont les saillies inquiétaient le vieillard, car il ne savait comment pourvoir à son éducation et utiliser cette vivacité de génie qui déjà brillait dans son regard. Hippolyte fut élevé aux frais du cardinal Farnèse; puis, tous les emplois, toutes les dignités vinrent successivement au-devant de lui, sans qu'il les cherchât autrement qu'en s'en rendant digne."—Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne, ii. 238.

The sixth chapel contains two fine cinque-cento tombs; on the left, Benedetto Superanzio, bishop of Nicosa, ob. 1495; on the right, a Spanish bishop, Giovanni da Coca, with frescoes. Close to the former tomb, on the floor, is the grave of (archdeacon) Robert Wilberforce, who died at Albano in 1857.

Here we enter the right transept. On the right is a small dark chapel containing a fine Crucifix, attributed to Giotto. The central, or Caraffa Chapel, is dedicated to St. Thomas Aquinas, and is covered with well-preserved frescoes. On the right, St. Thomas Aquinas is represented surrounded by allegorical figures, by Filippino Lippi. Over the altar is a beautiful Annunciation, in which a portrait of the donor, Cardinal Olivieri Caraffa, is introduced. Above is the Assumption of the Virgin. On the ceiling are the four Sibyls, by Raffaelino del Garbo.

Against the left wall is the tomb of Paul IV., Gio. Pietro Caraffa (1555—59), the great supporter of the Inquisition, the patron of the Jesuits, the persecutor of the Jews (whom he shut up with walls in the Ghetto),—a pope so terrible to look upon, that even Alva, who feared no man, trembled at his awful aspect Such he is represented upon his tomb, with deeply-sunken eyes and strongly-marked features, with one hand raised in blessing—or cursing, and the keys of St. Peter in the other. The tomb was designed by Pirro Ligorio; the statue is the work of Giacomo and Tommaso Casignuola, and being made in marble of different pieces and colours, is cited by Vasari as an instance of a sculptor's ingenuity in imitating painting with his materials. The epitaph runs:

"To Jesus Christ, the hope and the life of the faithful; to Paul IV. Caraffa, sovereign pontiff, distinguished amongst all by his eloquence, his learning, and his wisdom; illustrious by his innocence, by his liberality, and by his greatness of soul; to the most ardent champion of the catholic faith, Pius V., sovereign pontiff, has raised this monument of his gratitude and of his piety. He lived eighty-three years, one month, and twenty days, and died the 14th August, 1559, the fifth year of his pontificate."[312]

On the transept wall, just outside this chapel, is the beautiful gothic tomb of Guillaume Durandus, bishop of Mende,[313] with a recumbent figure guarded by two angels, the background being occupied by a mosaic of the Virgin and Child, by Giovanni Cosmati.

The first chapel on a line with the choir—the burial-place of the Altieri family—has an altar-piece, by Carlo Maratta, representing five saints canonized by Clement X., presented to the Virgin by St. Peter. On the floor is the incised monument of a bishop of Sutri.

The second chapel—which contains a fine cinque-cento tomb—is that of the Rosary. Its ceiling, representing the Mysteries of the Rosary, is by Marcello Venusti; the history of St. Catherine of Siena is by Giovanni de' Vecchi; the large and beautiful Madonna with the Child over the altar is attributed to Fra Angelico. Here is the tomb of Cardinal Capranica of 1470.

Beneath the high altar, with lamps always burning before it, is a marble sarcophagus with a beautiful figure, enclosing the body of St. Catherine of Siena. In it her relics were deposited in 1461, by Antoninus, archbishop of Florence. On the last pillar to the right is an inscription stating that, "all the indulgences and privileges in every church, of all the religious orders, mendicant or not mendicant, in every part of the world, are granted especially to this church, where is the body of St. Catherine of Siena."

"St. Catherine was one of twenty-five children born in wedlock to Jacopo and Lupa Benincasa, citizens of Siena. Her father exercised the trade of dyer and fuller. In the year of her birth, 1347, Siena reached the climax of its power and splendour. It was then that the plague of Bocaccio began to rage, which swept off 80,000 citizens, and interrupted the building of the great Duomo. In the midst of so large a family and during these troubled times, Catherine grew almost unnoticed, but it was not long before she manifested her peculiar disposition. At six years old she already saw visions and longed for a monastic life: about the same time she used to collect her childish companions together and preach to them. As she grew her wishes became stronger; she refused the proposals which her parents made that she should marry, and so vexed them by her obstinacy that they imposed on her the most servile duties in their household. These she patiently fulfilled, at the same time pursuing her own vocation with unwearied ardour. She scarcely slept at all, and ate no food but vegetables and a little bread, scourged herself, wore sackcloth, and became emaciated, weak, and half delirious. At length the firmness of her character and the force of her hallucination won the day. Her parents consented to her assuming the Dominican robe, and at the age of thirteen she entered the monastic life. From this moment till her death we see in her the ecstatic, the philanthropist, and the politician combined to a remarkable degree. For three whole years she never left her cell except to go to church, maintaining an almost unbroken silence. Yet, when she returned to the world, convinced at length of having won by prayer and pain the favour of her Lord, it was to preach to infuriated mobs, to toil among men dying of the plague, to execute diplomatic negotiations, to harangue the republic of Florence, to correspond with queens, and to interpose between kings and popes. In the midst of this varied and distracting career she continued to see visions, and to fast and scourge herself. The domestic virtues and the personal wants and wishes of a woman were annihilated in her; she lived for the Church, for the poor, and for Christ, whom she imagined to be constantly supporting her. At length she died (at Rome, on the 29th of April, 1380, in her 33rd year) worn out by inward conflicts, by the tension of a half-delirious ecstasy, by want of food and sleep, and by the excitement of political life."—Cornhill Mag. Sept. 1866.

On the right of the high altar is a statue of St. John, by Obicci,—on the left is the famous statue of Christ, by Michael Angelo. This is one of the sculptures which Francis I. tried hard to obtain for Paris. Its effect is marred by the bronze drapery.

Behind, in the choir, are the tombs of two Medici popes. On the left is Leo X., Giovanni de Medici (1513—21). This great pope, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, was destined to the papacy from his cradle. He was ordained at seven years old, was made a cardinal at seventeen, and pope at thirty-eight, and at the installation procession to the Lateran, rode upon the same white horse, upon which he had fought and had been taken prisoner at the battle of Ravenna. His reign was one of fêtes and pleasures. He was the great patron of artists and poets, and Raphael and Ariosto rose into eminence under his protection. His tomb is from a design of Antonio di Sangallo, but the figure of the pope is by Raffaello da Montelupo.

Near the foot of Leo X.'s tomb is the flat monumental stone of Cardinal Bembo, his friend, and the friend of Raphael, who died 1547. His epitaph has been changed. The original inscription, half-pagan, half-Christian, ran:

"Hic Bembus jacet Aonidum laus maxima Phœbi

Cum sole, et luna vix periturus honos.

Hic et fama jacet, spes, et suprema galeri

Quam non ulla queat restituisse dies.

Hic jacet exemplar vitæ omni fraude carentis,

Summa jacet, summa hic cum pietate fides."

On the right of the choir is the tomb, by Sangallo, of Clement VII., Giulio de Medici (1523—34), son of the Giulio who fell in the conspiracy of the Pazzi,—who in his unhappy reign saw the sack of Rome (1527) under the Constable de Bourbon, and the beginning of the separation from England under Henry VIII. The figure of the pope is by Baccio Bandinelli. Among other graves here is that of the English Cardinal Howard, ob. 1694. Just beyond the choir is a passage leading to a door into the Via S. Ignazio. Immediately on the left is the slab tomb of Fra Angelico da Fiesole. It is inscribed:

"Hic jacet Vene Pictor Fl. Jo. de Florentia Ordinis

prædicatorum, 1404.

"Non mihi sit laudi quod eram velut alter Apelles,

Sed quod lucra tuis omnia, Christe, dabam.

Altera nam terris opera exstant, altero cœlo.

Urbs me Johannem flos tulit Etruriæ."[314]

"Fra Angelico was simple and most holy in his manners,—and let this serve for a token of his simplicity, that Pope Nicholas one morning offering him refreshment, he scrupled to eat flesh without the licence of his superior, forgetful for the moment of the dispensing authority of the pontiff. He shunned altogether the commerce of the world, and living in holiness and in purity, was as loving towards the poor on earth as I think his soul must be now in heaven. He worked incessantly at his art, nor would he ever paint other than sacred subjects. He might have been rich, but cared not to be so, saying that true riches consisted rather in being content with little. He might have ruled over many, but willed it not, saying there was less trouble and hazard of sin in obeying others. Dignity and authority were within his grasp, but he disregarded them, affirming that he sought no other advancement than to escape hell and draw nigh to Paradise. He was most meek and temperate, and by a chaste life loosened himself from the snares of the world, ofttimes saying that the student of painting hath need of quiet and to live without anxiety, and that the dealers in the things of Christ ought to live habitually with Christ. Never was he seen in anger with the brethren, which appears to me a thing most marvellous, and all but incredible; his admonitions to his friends were simple and always softened by a smile. Whoever sought to employ him, he answered with the utmost courtesy, that he would do his part willingly so the prior were content.—In sum, this never sufficiently to be lauded father was most humble and modest in all his words and deeds, and in his paintings graceful and devout; and the saints which he painted have more of the air and aspect of saints than those of any other artist. He was wont never to retouch or amend any of his paintings, but left them always as they had come from his hand at first, believing, as he said, that such was the will of God. Some say that he never took up his pencil without previous prayer. He never painted a crucifix without tears bathing his cheeks; and throughout his works, in the countenance and attitude of all his figures, the correspondent impress of his sincere and exalted appreciation of the Christian religion is recognisable. Such was this verily Angelic father, who spent the whole time of his life in the service of God and in doing good to the world and to his neighbour. And truly a gift like his could not descend on any but a man of most saintly life, for a painter must be holy himself before he can depict holiness."—Lord Lindsay, from Vasari.

In the same passage are tombs of Cardinal Alessandrino, by Giacomo della Porta; of Cardinal Pimentel, by Bernini; and of Cardinal Bonelli, by Carlo Rainaldi.

Beyond this, in the left transept, is the Chapel of S. Domenico, with eight black columns, appropriate to the colour of the Order, and an interesting picture of the saint. Here is the tomb of Benedict XIII., Vincenzo-Maria Orsini (1724—30), by Pietro Bracci. This pope, who had been a Dominican monk, laboured hard in his short reign for the reformation of the Church, and the morals of the clergy.

Over a door leading to the Sacristy are frescoes representing the election of Eugenius IV. in 1431, and of Nicholas V. in 1447, which both took place in this church. The altar of the sacristy has a Crucifixion, by Andrea Sacchi.

Returning down the left aisle, the second chapel, counting from this end, is that of the Lante family, which contains the fine tomb of the Duchess Lante, ob. 1840, by Tenerani, with the Angel of the Resurrection, a sublime upward-gazing figure seated upon the sarcophagus. Here is a picture of St. James, by Baroccio.

The third chapel is that of S. Vincenzo Ferreri, apostle of the Order of Preachers, with a miracle-working picture, by Bernardo Castelli. The fourth chapel—of the Grazioli family—has on the right a statue of St. Sebastian, by Mino da Fiesole, and over the altar a lovely head of our Saviour, by Perugino. This chapel was purchased by the Grazioli from the old family of Maffei, of which there are some fine tombs. The fifth chapel—of the Patrizi family—contains the famous miraculous picture called "La Madonna Consolatrice degli afflitti," in honour of which Pope Gregory XVI. conceded so many indulgences, as we read by the inscription.

"La santità di N. S. Gregorio Papa XVI. con breve in data 17 Sept. 1836. Ho accordato l'indulgenzia plenaria a chiunque confessato e communicato visiterà divotamente questa santa imagine della B. Vergine sotto il titolo di consolatrice degli afflitti nella seconda dominica di Luglio e suo ottavo di ciascun anno: concede altresi la parziale indulgenza di 200 giorni in qualunque giorno dell' anno a chiunque almeno contrito visiterà la detta S. Immagine: le dette indulgenze poi sono pure applicabili alle benedette anime del purgatorio."

The last chapel, belonging to a Spanish nobleman, contains the picture of the Crucifixion, which is said to have conversed with Sta. Rosa di Lima.

Near the entrance is the tomb of Cardinal Giacomo Tebaldi, ob. 1466, and beneath it that of Francesco Tornabuoni, by Mino da Fiesole. It was for the tomb of the wife of this Tornabuoni, who died in childbirth, that the wonderful relief of Verocchio, now in the Uffizi at Florence, was executed. In the pavement is the gravestone of Paulus Manutius, the printer, son of the famous Aldus Manutius of Venice, with the inscription, "Paulo Manutio Aldi Filio. Obiit CIƆIƆLXXIV."

The great Dominican Convent of the Minerva, lately suppressed, was the residence of the General of the Order. It contains the Bibliotheca Casanatensis (so called from its founder, Cardinal Casanata), the largest library in Rome after that of the Vatican, comprising 120,000 printed volumes and 4500 MSS. It is open from 8 to 11 A.M., and 1½ to 3½ P.M. This convent has always been connected with the history of the Inquisition. Here, on June 22, 1633, Galileo was tried before its tribunal for the "heresy" of saying that the earth went round the sun, instead of the sun round the earth, and was forced to recant upon his knees, this "accursed, heretical, and detestable doctrine." As he rose from his humiliation, he is said to have consoled himself by adding, in an undertone, "E pur si muove." When the "Palace of the Holy Office" was stormed by the mob in the revolution of 1848, it was feared that the Dominican convent would have been burnt down.

The very beautiful cloister of the convent, which has a vaulted roof richly painted in arabesques, contains grand fifteenth century tombs,—of Cardinal Tiraso, ob. 1502, and of Cardinal Astorgius, ob. 1503. S. Antonino, archbishop of Florence, who lived in the reigns of Eugenius IV. and Nicholas V., was prior of this convent.

From the Minerva, the Via del Piè di Marmo, so called from a gigantic marble foot which stands on one side of it, leads to the Corso.[315]

CHAPTER XV.

THE BORGO AND ST. PETER'S.

Via Tordinona—S. Salvatore in Lauro—House of Raphael—S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini—Bridge and Castle of S. Angelo—Sta. Maria Traspontina—Palazzo Giraud—Piazza Scossa-Cavalli—Hospital of Santo Spirito—Piazza and Obelisk of the Vatican—S. Peter's; its portico, tombs, crypts, dome, and sacristy—Churches of S. Stefano and Sta. Marta—Il Cimeterio dei Tedeschi—Palazzo del Santo-Uffizio—S. Salvatore in Torrione—S. Michaele in Sassia.

CONTINUING in a direct course from the Piazza Borghese, we pass through a series of narrow dirty streets quite devoid of interest, but bordering on one side upon the Tiber, of which—with its bridge, S. Angelo and St. Peter's—beautiful views may be obtained from little courts and narrow strips of shore, at the back of the houses.

A short distance after passing (on left) the Locanda dell' Orso, where Montaigne used to stay when he was in Rome, and beneath which are some curious vaulted chambers of c. A.D. 1500, the street, which repeatedly changes its name, is called Via Tordinona, from the Tor di Nona, which once stood here, but was destroyed in 1690. It was used as a prison, as is shown by the verse of Regnier:

"Qu'un barisel vous mit dedans la tour de Nonne."

One of the narrow streets on the left of the Via Tordinona debouches into the Via dei Coronari, close to the Church of S. Salvatore in Lauro, built on the site of a laurel-grove, which flourished near the portico of Europa. It contains a picture of the Nativity, by Pietro da Cortona, and a modern work of Gagliardi, representing S. Emidio, S. Nicolo da Tolentino, and S. Giacomo della Marina, the three protectors of Ancona. In a side chapel, opening out of the cloisters, is the rich tomb of Pope Eugenius IV. (Gabriele Condolmieri, ob. 1439), with his recumbent figure by Isaia da Pisa. Francesco Salviati painted a portrait of this pope for the adjoining convent, to which he had belonged, as well as a fine fresco of the Marriage of Cana.[316]

(There are several other fine monuments in the same chapel with the tomb, which in 1867 was given up as a barrack to the Flemish zouaves, at the great risk of injury to its delicate carvings.)

Passing the Apollo Theatre, the Via Tordinona emerges upon the quay of the Tiber, opposite S. Angelo. Hence several streets diverge into the heart of the city.

(At the corner of the Via di Banchi is a house with a frieze, richly sculptured with lions' heads, &c. On the left is the Church of San Celso in Banchi, in front of which Lorenzo Colonna, the protonotary, was murdered by the Orsini and Santa Croce, immediately after the death of Sixtus IV. (1484); and where his mother, finding his head cut off, and seizing it by the hair, shrieked forth her curses upon his enemies. On the right, further down the street, is the Church of Sta. Caterina da Siena, which contains an interesting altar-piece by Girolamo Genga, representing the return of Gregory XI. from Avignon, which was due to her influence.)

The house joining the Ponte S. Angelo is said to have been that of the "Violinista," the friend of Raphael, who is familiar to us from his portrait in the Sciarra Palace. Some say that Raphael died while he was on a visit to him. But the best authorities maintain that he died in a house built for him by Bramante, in the Piazza Rusticucci, which was pulled down to enlarge the Piazza of St. Peter's. No. 124, Via Coronari, not far from the Ponte S. Angelo, is shown as the house in which the great painter lived previously to this, and is that which he bequeathed to the chapel in the Pantheon in which he is buried. It was partly rebuilt in 1705, when Carlo Maderno painted on its façade a portrait of Raphael in chiaro-scuro, now almost obliterated. The house at present belongs to the canons of Sta. Maria Maggiore.

(The Via S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini leads to the Church of that name, abutting picturesquely into the angle of the Tiber. This is the national church of the Tuscans, and was built at the expense of the city of Florence. In the tribune are tombs of the Falconieri family. Here are several fine pictures; a St. Jerome writing, by Cigoli, who is buried in this church; St. Jerome praying before a crucifix, Tito Santi[317] (1538—1603); St. Francis, Tito Santi; SS. Cosmo and Damian condemned to martyrdom by fire,—a grand work of Salvator Rosa.

"Some of the altar-pieces of Salvator-Rosa (1615-1673), are well conceived and full of effect, especially when they represent a horrible subject, like the martyrdom in S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini."—Lanzi, ii. 165.

The Chapel of the Crucifix is painted by Lanfranco: the third chapel on the right has frescoes by Tempesta on the roof, relating to the history of S. Lorenzo.

The building of this church was begun in the reign of Leo X. by Sansovino, who, for want of space, laid its foundations, at enormous expense, in the bed of the Tiber. While overlooking this, he fell from a scaffold, and being dangerously hurt, was obliged to give up his place to Antonio da Sangallo.[318] Soon after Pope Leo died, and the work, with many others, was suspended during the reign of Adrian VI. Under Clement VII. Sansovino returned, but was driven away, robbed of all his possessions in the sack of Rome, under the Constable de Bourbon. The church was finished by Giacomo della Porta in 1588, but Alessandro Galileo added the façade in 1725.

"En 1488, une affreuse épidémie décimait les malheureux habitants des environs de Rome; les mourants étaient abandonnés, les cadavres restaient sans sépulture. Aussitôt quelques Florentins forment une confrérie sous le titre de la Pitié, pour rendre aux pestiférés les derniers devoirs de la charité chrétienne: c'est à cette confrérie qu'on doit la belle église de Saint-Jean des Florentins, à Strada Giulia."—Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne.

The Ponte S. Angelo is the Pons Elius of Hadrian, built as an approach to his mausoleum, and only intended for this, as another public bridge existed close by, at the time of its construction. It is almost entirely ancient, except the parapets. The statues of St. Peter and St. Paul, at the extremity, were erected by Clement VII., in the place of two chapels, in 1530, and the angels, by Clement IX., in 1688. The pedestal of the third angel on the right is a relic of the siege of Rome in 1849, and bears the impress of a cannon-ball.

These angels, which have been called the "breezy maniacs" of Bernini, are only from his designs. The two angels which he executed himself, and intended for this bridge, are now at S. Andrea delle Fratte. The idea of Clement IX. was a fine one, that "an avenue of the heavenly host should be assembled to welcome the pilgrim to the shrine of the great apostle."

Dante saw the bridge of S. Angelo divided lengthways by barriers to facilitate the movement of the crowds going to and from St Peter's on the occasion of the first jubilee, 1300.

"Come i Romani per l'esercito molto,

L'anno del giubbileo, su per lo ponte

Hanno a passar la gente modo tolto;

Che dall' un lato tutti hanno la fronte

Verso 'l castello, e vanno a Santo Pietro,

Dall' altra sponda vanno verso 'l monte."

Inferno, xviii. 29.

From the Ponte S. Angelo, when the Tiber is low, are visible the remains of the bridge by which the ancient Via Triumphalis crossed the river. Close by, where Santo Spirito now stands, was the Porta Triumphalis, by which victors entered the city in triumph.

Facing the bridge, is the famous Castle of S. Angelo, built by the Emperor Hadrian as his family tomb, because the last niche in the imperial mausoleum of Augustus was filled when the ashes of Nerva were laid there. The first funeral here was that of Elius Verus, the first adopted son of Hadrian, who died before him. The emperor himself died at Baiæ, but his remains were transported hither from a temporary tomb at Pozzuoli by his successor Antoninus Pius, by whom the mausoleum was completed in A.D. 140. Here, also, were buried, Antoninus Pius, A.D. 161; Marcus Aurelius, 180; Commodus, 192; and Septimius Severus, in an urn of gold, enclosed in one of alabaster, A.D. 211; Caracalla, in 217, was the last emperor interred here. The well-known lines of Byron:

"Turn to the mole which Hadrian rear'd on high,

Imperial mimic of old Egypt's piles,

Colossal copyist of deformity,

Whose travell'd phantasy from the far Nile's

Enormous model, doom'd the artist's toils

To build for giants, and for his vain earth,

His shrunken ashes, raise this dome! How smiles

The gazer's eye with philosophic mirth,

To view the huge design which sprung from such a birth."

seem rather applicable to the Pyramid of Caius Cestius than to this mausoleum.

The castle, as it now appears, is but the skeleton of the magnificent tomb of the emperors. Procopius, writing in the sixth century, describes its appearance in his time. "It is built," he says, "of Parian marble; the square blocks fit closely to each other without any cement. It has four equal sides, each a stone's throw in length. In height it rises above the walls of the city. On the summit are statues of men and horses, of admirable workmanship, in Parian marble." Canina, in his "Architectura Romana," gives a restoration of the mausoleum, which shows how it consisted of three storeys: 1, a quadrangular basement, the upper part intersected with Doric pillars, between which were spaces for epitaphs of the dead within, and surmounted at the corners by marble equestrian statues; 2, a circular storey, with fluted Ionic colonnades: 3, a circular storey, surrounded by Corinthian columns, between which were statues. The whole was surmounted by a pyramidal roof, ending in a bronze fir-cone.

"The mausoleum which Hadrian erected for himself on the further bank of the Tiber far outshone the tomb of Augustus, which it nearly confronted. Of the size and dignity which characterized this work of Egyptian massiveness, we may gain a conception from the existing remains; but it requires an effort of imagination to transform the scarred and shapeless bulk before us, into the graceful pile which rose column upon column, surmounted by a gilded dome of span almost unrivalled." Merivale, ch. lxvi.

The history of the Mausoleum, in the middle ages, is almost the history of Rome. It was probably first turned into a fortress by Honorius, A.D. 423. From Theodoric it derives the name of "Carcer Theodorici." In 537, it was besieged by Vitiges, when the defending garrison, reduced to the last extremity, hurled down all the magnificent statues which decorated the cornice, upon the besiegers. In A.D. 498 Pope Symmachus removed the bronze fir-cone at the apex of the roof to the court of St. Peter's, whence it was afterwards transferred to the Vatican garden, where it is still to be seen between two bronze peacocks, which probably stood on either side of the entrance.

Belisarius defended the castle against Totila, whose Gothic troops captured and held it for three years, after which it was taken by Narses.

It was in 530 that the event occurred which gave the building its present name. Pope Gregory the Great was leading a penitential procession to St. Peter's, in order to offer up prayers for the staying of the great pestilence which followed the inundation of 589; when, as he was crossing the bridge, even while the people were falling dead around him, he looked up at the mausoleum, and saw an angel on its summit, sheathing a bloody sword,[319] while a choir of angels around chaunted with celestial voices, the anthem, since adopted by the Church in her vesper service—"Regina cœli, lætare—quia quem meruisti portare—resurrexit, sicut dixit, Alleluja"—To which the earthly voice of the pope solemnly responded, "Ora pro nobis Deum, Alleluja."[320]

In the tenth century the fortress was occupied by the infamous Marozia, who, in turn, brought her three husbands (Alberic, Count of Tusculum; Guido, Marquis of Tuscany; and Hugo, King of Italy) thither, to tyrannise with her over Rome. It was within the walls of this building that Alberic, her son by her first husband, waiting upon his royal stepfather at table, threw a bowl of water over him, when Hugo retorted by a blow, which was the signal for an insurrection, the people taking part with Alberic, putting the king to flight, and imprisoning Marozia. Shut up within these walls, Pope John XI. (931-936), son of Marozia by her first husband, ruled under the guidance of his stronger-minded brother Alberic; here, also, Octavian, son of Alberic, and grandson of Marozia, succeeded in forcing his election as John XII. (being the first pope who took a new name), and scandalised Christendom by a life of murder, robbery, adultery, and incest.

In 974 the castle was seized by Cencio (Crescenzio Nomentano), the consul, who raised up an anti-pope (Boniface VII.) here, with the determination of destroying the temporal power of the popes, and imprisoned and murdered two popes, Benedict VI. (972), and John XIV. (984), within these walls. In 996 another lawful pope, Gregory V., calling in the emperor Otho to his assistance, took the castle, and beheaded Cencio, though he had promised him life if he would surrender. From this governor the fortress long held the name of Castello de Crescenzio, or Turris Crescentii, by which it is described in mediæval writings. A second Cencio supported another anti-pope, Cadolaus, here in 1063, against Pope Alexander II. A third Cencio imprisoned Gregory VII. here in 1084. From this time the possession of the castle was a constant point of contest between popes and anti-popes. In 1313 Arlotto degli Stefaneschi, having demolished most of the other towers in the city, arranged the same fate for S. Angelo, but it was saved by cession to the Orsini. It was from hence, on December 15, 1347, that Rienzi fled to Bohemia, at the end of his first period of power, his wife having previously made her escape disguised as a friar.

"The cause of final ruin to this monument" is described by Nibby to have been the resentment of the citizens against a French governor who espoused the cause of the anti-pope (Clement VII.) against Urban VI. in 1378. It was then that the marble casings were all torn from the walls and used as street pavements.

A drawing of Sangallo of 1465 shows the "upper part of the fortress crowned with high square towers and turreted buildings; a cincture of bastions and massive square towers girding the whole; two square-built bulwarks flanking the extremity of the bridge, which was then so connected with these outworks that passengers would have immediately found themselves inside the fortress after crossing the river. Marlianus, 1588, describes its double cincture of fortifications—a large round tower at the inner extremity of the bridge; two towers with high pinnacles, and the cross on their summits, the river flowing all around."[321]

The castle began to assume its present aspect under Boniface IX. in 1395. John XXIII., 1411, commenced the covered way to the Vatican, which was finished by Alexander VI.; and roofed by Urban VIII., in 1630. By the last-named pope the great outworks of the fortress were built under Bernini, and furnished with cannon made from the bronze roof of the Pantheon. Under Paul III. the interior was decorated with frescoes, and a colossal marble angel erected on the summit, in the place of a chapel (S. Angelo inter Nubes), built by Boniface IV. The marble angel was exchanged by Benedict XIV. for the existing angel of bronze, by a Dutch artist, Verschaffelt.

"Paul III. voulant justifier le nom donné à cette forteresse, fit placer au sommet de l'édifice une statue de marbre, représentant un ange tenant à la main une épée nue. Cet ouvrage de Raphaël de Montelupo a été remplacé, du temps de Benoit XIV., par une statue de bronze qui fournit cette belle réponse à un officier français assiégé dans le fort. 'Je me rendrai quand l'ange remettra son épée dans le fourreau.'

" ... Cet ange a l'air naïf d'une jeune fille de dix-huit ans, et ne cherche qu'à bien remettre son épée dans le fourreau."—Stendhal, i. 33.

"I suppose no one ever looked at this statue critically—at least, for myself, I never could; nor can I remember now whether, as a work of art, it is above or below criticism; perhaps both. With its vast wings, poised in air, as seen against the deep blue skies of Rome, or lighted up by the golden sunset, to me it was ever like what it was intended to represent—like a vision."—Jameson's Sacred Art, p. 98.

Of the castle, as we now see it externally, only the quadrangular basement is of the time of Hadrian; the round tower is of that of Urban VIII., its top added by Paul III. The four round towers of the outworks, called after the four Evangelists, are of Nicholas V., 1447.

The interior of the fortress can be visited by an order. Excavations made in 1825 have laid open the sepulchral chamber in the midst of the basement. Here stood, in the centre, the porphyry sarcophagus of Hadrian, which was stolen by Pope Innocent II. to be used as his own tomb in the Lateran, where it was destroyed by the fire of 1360, the cover alone escaping, which was used for the tomb of Otho II., in the atrium of St. Peter's, and which, after filling this office for seven centuries, is now the baptismal font of that basilica. A spiral passage, thirty feet high, and eleven wide, up which a chariot could be driven, gradually ascends through the solid mass of masonry. There is wonderfully little to be seen. A saloon of the time of Paul III. is adorned with frescoes of the life of Alexander the Great, by Pierino del Vaga. This room would be used by the pope in case of his having to take refuge in S. Angelo. An adjoining room, adorned with a stucco frieze of Tritons and Nereids, is that in which Cardinal Caraffa was strangled (1561) under Pius IV., for alleged abuses of authority under his uncle, Paul IV.—his brother, the Marquis Caraffa, being beheaded in the castle the same night. The reputed prison of Beatrice Cenci is shown, but it is very uncertain that she was ever confined here,—also the prison of Cagliostro, and that of Benvenuto Cellini, who escaped, and broke his leg in trying to let himself down by a rope from the ramparts. The statue of the angel by Montelupo is to be seen stowed away in a dark corner. Several horrible trabocchette (oubliettes) are shown.

On the roof, from which there is a beautiful view, are many modern prisons, where prisoners suffer terribly from the summer sun beating upon their flat roofs.

Among the sculptures found here were the Barberini Faun, now at Munich, the Dancing Faun, at Florence, and the Bust of Hadrian at the Vatican. The sepulchral inscriptions of the Antonines existed till 1572, when they were cut up by Gregory XIII. (Buoncompagni), and the marble used to decorate a chapel in St Peter's! The magnificent Easter display of fireworks (from an idea of Michael Angelo, carried out by Bernini), called the girandola, used to be exhibited here, but now takes place at S. Pietro in Montorio, or from the Pincio. From 1849 to 1870, the castle was occupied by French troops, and their banner floated here, except on great festivals, when it was exchanged for that of the pope.

Running behind, and crossing the back streets of the Borgo, is the covered passage intended for the escape of the popes to the castle. It was used by Alexander VI. when invaded by Charles VIII. in 1494, and twice by Clement VII. (Giulio di Medici), who fled, in 1527, from Moncada, viceroy of Naples, and in May, 1527, during the terrible sack of Rome by the troops of the Constable de Bourbon.

"Pendant que l'on se battait, Clement VII. était en prières devant l'autel de sa chapelle au Vatican, détail singulier chez un homme qui avait commencé sa carrière par être militaire. Lorsque les cris des mourants lui annoncèrent la prise de la ville, il s'enfuit du Vatican au château St. Ange par le long corridor qui s'élève au-dessus des plus hautes maisons. L'historien Paul-Jove, qui suivait Clement VII., relevait sa longue robe pour qu'il pût marcher plus vîte, et lorsque le pape fut arrivé au pont qui le laissait à découvert pour un instant, Paul-Jove le couvrit de son manteau et de son chapeau violet, de peur qu'il ne fût reconnu à son rochet blanc et ajusté par quelque soldat bon tireur.

"Pendant cette longue fuite le long du corridor, Clement VII. apercevait au-dessous de lui, par les petites fenêtres, ses sujets poursuivis par les soldats vainqueurs qui déjà se répandaient dans les rues. Ils ne faisaient aucun quartier à personne, et tuaient à coups de pique tout ce qu'ils pouvaient atteindre."—Stendhal, i. 388.

"The Escape" consists of two passages; the upper open like a loggia, the lower covered, and only lighted by loop-holes. The keys of both are kept by the pope himself.

S. Angelo is at the entrance of the Borgo, promised at the Italian invasion of September, 1870, as the sanctuary of the papacy, the tiny sovereignty where the temporal sway of the popes should remain undisturbed,—the sole relic left to them of all their ancient dominions. The Borgo, or Leonine City, is surrounded by walls of its own, which were begun in A.D. 846, by Pope Leo IV., for the better defence of St. Peter's from the Saracens, who had been carrying their devastations up to the very walls of Rome. These walls, 10,800 feet in circumference, were completed in four years by labourers summoned from every town and monastery of the Roman states. Pope Leo himself daily encouraged their exertions by his presence. In 852 the walls were solemnly consecrated by a vast procession of the whole Roman clergy barefooted, their heads strewn with ashes, who sprinkled them with holy water, while the pope offered a prayer composed by himself,[322] at each of the three gates.

The adjoining Piazza Pia is decorated with a fountain erected by Pius IX. The principal of the streets which meet here is the Via del Borgo Nuovo, the main artery to St. Peter's. On its left is the Church of Sta. Maria Traspontina, built 1566, containing two columns which bear inscriptions, stating that they were those to which St. Peter and St. Paul were respectively attached, when they suffered flagellation by order of Nero!

This church occupies the site of a Pyramid supposed to have been erected to Scipio Africanus, who died at Liternum, B.C. 183, and which was regarded in the middle ages as the tomb of Romulus. Its sides were once coated with marble, which was stripped off by Donus I. This pyramid is represented on the bronze doors of St Peter's.

A little further is the Palazzo Giraud, belonging to Prince Torlonia. It was built, 1506, by Bramante, for Cardinal Adriano da Corneto,[323] who gave it to Henry VIII., by whom it was given to Cardinal Campeggio. Thus it was for a short time the residence of the English ambassador before the Reformation. Innocent XII. converted it into a college for priests, by whom it was sold to the Marquis Giraud.

Facing this palace is the Piazza Scossa Cavalli, with a pretty fountain. Its name bears witness to a curious legend, which tells how when St. Helena returned from Palestine, bringing with her the stone on which Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac, and that on which the Virgin Mary sate down at the time of the presentation of the Saviour in the Temple, the horses drawing these precious relics stood still at this spot, and refused every effort to make them move. Then Christian people, "recognising the finger of God," erected a church on this spot (S. Giacomo Scossa Cavalli), where the stones are still to be seen.

The Strada del Borgo Sto. Spirito contains the immense Hospital of Santo Spirito, running along the bank of the Tiber. This establishment was founded in 1198 by Innocent III. Sixtus IV., in 1471, ordered it to be rebuilt by Bacio Pintelli, who added a hall 376 feet long by 44 high and 37 wide. Under Benedict XIV., Ferdinando Fuga built another great hall. The altar in the midst of the great hall is the only work of Andrea Palladio in Rome. The church was designed by Bacio Pintelli, but built by Antonio di San Gallo under Paul III. Under Gregory XIII., Ottaviano Mascherino built the palace of the governor, which unites the hospital with the church.

The institution comprises a hospital for every kind of disease, containing in ordinary times 1620 beds, a number which can be almost doubled in time of necessity; a lunatic asylum containing an average of 450 inmates; and a foundling hospital, where children are received from all parts of the papal states, and even from the Neapolitan towns. Upwards of 3000 foundlings pass through the hospital annually, but the mortality is very great,—in the return of 1846, as much as fifty-seven per cent. The person who wishes to deposit an infant rings a bell, when a little bed is turned towards the grille near the door, in which the baby is deposited. Close to this is another grille, without any apparent use. "What is that for?" you ask. "Because, when nurses come in from the country, they might be tempted to take the children for money, and yet not feel any natural tenderness towards them, but by looking through the second grille, they can see the child, and discover if it is simpatico, and if not, they can go away and leave it."

At the end of the street one enters the Piazza Rusticucci (where Raphael died), from which open the magnificent colonnades of Bernini, which lead the eye up to the façade of St. Peter's, while the middle distance is broken by the silvery spray of its glittering fountains.

The Colonnades have 284 columns, are sixty-one feet wide, and sixty-four high; they enclose an area of 777 English feet; they were built by Bernini for Alexander VII., 1657-67. In the centre is the famous red granite Obelisk of the Vatican, brought to Rome from Heliopolis by Caligula, in a ship which Pliny describes as being "nearly as long as the left side of the port of Ostia." It was used to adorn the circus of Nero, and was brought from a position near the present sacristy of St. Peter's by Sixtus V. in 1586. Here it was elevated by Domenico Fontana, who estimated its weight at 963,537 Roman pounds; and employed 800 men, 150 horses, and 46 cranes in its removal.

The obelisk was first exorcised as a pagan idol, and then dedicated to the Cross. Its removal was preceded by high mass in St. Peter's, after which Pope Sixtus bestowed a solemn benediction upon Fontana and his workmen, and ordained that none should speak, upon pain of death, during the raising of the obelisk. The immense mass was slowly rising upon its base, when suddenly it ceased to move, and it was evident that the ropes were giving way. An awful moment of suspense ensued, when the breathless silence was broken by a cry of "Acqua alle funi!"—throw water on the ropes, and the workmen, acting on the advice so unexpectedly received, again saw the monster move, and gradually settle on its base. The man who saved the obelisk was Bresca, a sailor of Bordighiera, a village of the Riviera di Ponente, and Sixtus V., in his gratitude, promised him that his native village should ever henceforth have the privilege of furnishing the Easter palms to St. Peter's. A vessel laden with palm-branches, which abound in Bordighiera, is still annually sent to the Tiber in the week before Palm Sunday, and the palms, after being prepared and plaited by the nuns of S. Antonio Abbate, are used in the ceremonial in St. Peter's.

The height of the whole obelisk is 132 feet, that of the shaft, eighty-three feet. Upon the shaft is the inscription to Augustus and Tiberius: "DIVO. CÆS. DIVI. JULII. F. AUGUSTO.—TI. CÆSARI. DIVI. AUG. F.—AUGUSTA. SACRUM." The inscriptions on the base show its modern dedication to the Cross[324]—"Ecce Crux Domini—Fugite partes adversæ—Vicit Leo de tribu Juda."

"Sixte-quint s'applaudissait du succès, comme de l'œuvre la plus gigantesque des temps modernes; des médailles furent frappées; Fontana fut créé, noble romain, chevalier de l'Éperon d'or, et reçut une gratification de 5,000 écus, indépendamment des matériaux qui avaient servi à l'entreprise, et dont la valeur s'élevait à 20,000 écus (108,000 fr.); enfin des poëmes, dans toutes les langues, sur ce nouveau triomphe de la croix, furent adressés aux différents souverains de l'Europe."—Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne, ii. 232.

"In summer the great square basks in unalluring magnificence in the midday sun. Its tall obelisk sends but a slim shadow to travel round the oval plane, like the gnomon of a huge dial; its fountains murmur with a delicious dreaminess, sending up massive jets like blocks of crystal into the hot sunshine, and receiving back a broken spray, on which sits serene an unbroken iris, but present no 'cool grot,' where one may enjoy their freshness; and in spite of the shorter path, the pilgrim looks with dismay at the dazzling pavement and long flight of unsheltered steps between him and the church, and prudently plunges into the forest of columns at either side of the piazza, and threads his way through their uniting shadows, intended, as an inscription[325] tells him, for this express purpose."—Cardinal Wiseman.

"Un jour Pie V. traversait, avec l'ambassadeur de Pologne, cette place du Vatican. Pris d'enthousiasme au souvenir du courage des martyrs qui l'ont arrosée de leurs larmes, et fertilisée par leur sang, il se baisse, et saisissant dans sa main une poignée de poussière: 'Tenez,' dit-il au représentant de cette noble nation, 'prenez cette poussière formée de la cendre des saints, et imprégnée du sang des martyrs.'

"L'ambassadeur ne portait pas dans son cœur la foi d'un pape, ni dans son âme les illuminations d'un saint; il reçut pourtant avec respect cette rélique étrange à ses yeux: mais revenu en son palais, retirant, d'une main indifférente peut-être, le linge qui la contenait, il le trouva ensanglanté.

"La poussière avait disparu. La foi du pontife avait évoqué le sang des martyrs, et ce sang généreux reparaissait à cet appel pour attester, en face de l'hérésie, que l'Église romaine, au XVIe siècle, était toujours celle pour laquelle ces héros avaient donné leur vie sous Néron."—Une Chrétienne à Rome.

No one can look upon the Piazza of St. Peter's without associating it with the great religious ceremonies with which it is connected, especially that of the Easter Benediction.

"Out over the great balcony stretches a white awning, where priests and attendants are collected, and where the pope will soon be seen. Below, the piazza is alive with moving masses. In the centre are drawn up long lines of soldiery, with yellow and red pompons, and glittering helmets and bayonets. These are surrounded by crowds on foot, and at the outer rim are packed carriages filled and overrun with people, mounted on the seats and boxes. What a sight it is!—above us the great dome of St. Peter's, and below, the grand embracing colonnade, and the vast space, in the centre of which rises the solemn obelisk thronged with masses of living beings. Peasants from the Campagna and the mountains are moving about everywhere. Pilgrims in oil-cloth cape and with iron staff demand charity. On the steps are rows of purple, blue, and brown umbrellas, for there the sun blazes fiercely. Everywhere crop forth the white hoods of Sisters of Charity, collected in groups, and showing, among the parti-coloured dresses, like beds of chrysanthemums in a garden. One side of the massive colonnade casts a grateful shadow over the crowd beneath, that fill up the intervals of its columns; but elsewhere the sun burns down and flashes everywhere. Mounted on the colonnade are crowds of people leaning over, beside the colossal statues. Through all the heat is heard the constant plash of the sun-lit fountains, that wave to and fro their veils of white spray. At last the clock strikes. In the far balcony are seen the two great showy peacock fans, and between them a figure clad in white, that rises from a golden chair, and spreads his great sleeves like wings as he raises his arms in benediction. That is the pope, Pius the Ninth. All is dead silence, and a musical voice, sweet and penetrating, is heard chanting from the balcony;—the people bend and kneel; with a cold gray flash, all the bayonets gleam as the soldiers drop to their knees, and rise to salute as the voice dies away, and the two white wings are again waved;—then thunder the cannon,—the bells clash and peal,—a few white papers, like huge snow-flakes, drop wavering from the balcony;—these are Indulgences, and there is an eager struggle for them below;—then the pope again rises, again gives his benediction,[326] waving to and fro his right hand, three fingers open, and making the sign of the cross,—and the peacock fans retire, and he between them is borne away,—and Lent is over."—Story's Roba di Roma.

The first church which existed on or near the site of the present building, was the oratory founded in A.D. 90, by Anacletus, bishop of Rome, who is said to have been ordained by St. Peter himself, and who thus marked the spot where many Christian martyrs had suffered in the circus of Nero, and where St. Peter was buried after his crucifixion.

In 306 Constantine the Great yielded to the request of Pope Sylvester, and began the erection of a basilica on this spot, labouring with his own hands at the work, and himself carrying away twelve loads of earth, in honour of the twelve apostles.[327] Anastasius describes how the body of the great apostle was exhumed at this time, and re-interred in a shrine of silver, enclosed in a sarcophagus of gilt bronze. The early basilica measured 395 feet in length by 212 in width. Its nave and aisles were divided by eighty-six marble pillars of different sizes, in great part brought from the Septizonium of Severus, and it had an atrium, and a paradisus, or quadrangular portico, along its front.[328] Though only half the size of the present cathedral, still it covered a greater space than any mediæval cathedral except those of Milan and Seville, with which it ranked in size.[329]

The old basilica suffered severely in the Saracenic invasion of 846, when some authorities maintain that even the tomb of the great apostle was rifled of its contents, but it was restored by Leo IV., who raised the fortifications of the Borgo for its defence.

Among the most remarkable of its early pilgrims were, Theodosius, who came to pray for a victory over Eugenius; Valentinian, emperor of the East, with his wife Eudoxia, and his mother Galla-Placidia; Belisarius, the great general under Justinian; Totila; Cedwalla, king of the West Saxons, who came for baptism; Concred, king of the Mercians, who came to remain as a monk, having cut off and consecrated his long hair at the tomb of St. Peter; Luitprand, king of the Lombards; Ina of Wessex, who founded a church here in honour of the Virgin, that Anglo-Saxons might have a place of prayer, and those who died, a grave; Carloman of France, who came for absolution and remained as a monk, first at S. Oreste (Soracte), then at Monte Casino; Richard of England; Bertrade, wife of Pepin, and mother of Charlemagne; Offa, the Saxon, who made his kingdom tributary to St. Peter; Charlemagne (four times), who was crowned here by Leo III.; Lothaire, crowned by Paschal I.; and, in the last year of the reign of Leo IV., Ethelwolf, king of the Anglo-Saxons, who was crowned here, remained a year, and who brought with him his boy of six years old, afterwards the great Alfred.

Of the old basilica, the crypt is now the only remnant, and there are collected the few relics preserved of the endless works of art with which it was filled, and which for the most part were lost or wilfully destroyed, when it was pulled down. Its destruction was first planned by Nicholas V. (1450), but was not carried out till the time of Julius II., who in 1506 began the new St. Peter's from designs of Bramante. The four great piers and their arches above were completed, before the deaths of both Bramante and Pope Julius interrupted the work. The next pope, Leo X., obtained a design for a church in the form of a Latin cross from Raphael, which was changed, after his death (on account of expense) to a Greek cross, by Baldassare Peruzzi, who only lived to complete the tribune. Paul III. (1534) employed Antonio di Sangallo as an architect, who returned to the design of a Latin cross, but died before he could carry out any of his intentions. Giulio Romano succeeded him and died also. Then the pope, "being inspired by God," says Vasari, sent for Michael Angelo, then in his seventy-second year, who continued the work under Julius III., returning to the plan of a Greek cross, enlarging the tribune and transepts, and beginning the dome on a new plan, which he said would "raise the Pantheon in the air." The dome designed by Michael Angelo, however, was very different to that which we now admire, being much lower, flatter, and heavier. The present dome is due to Giacomo della Porta, who brought the great work to a conclusion in 1590, under Sixtus V., who devoted 100,000 gold crowns annually to the building. In 1605 Paul V. destroyed all that remained of the old basilica, and employed Carlo Maderno as his architect, who once more returned to the plan of the Latin cross, and completed the present ugly façade in 1614. The church was dedicated by Urban VIII., November 18th, 1626; the colonnade added by Alexander VII., 1667, the sacristy by Pius VI., in 1780. The building of the present St. Peter's extended altogether over 176 years, and its expenses were so great that Julius II. and Leo X. were obliged to meet them by the sale of indulgences, which led to the Reformation. The expense of the main building alone has been estimated at 10,000,000l. The annual expense of repairs is 6300l.

"St. Pierre est une sorte de ville à part dans Rome, ayant son climat, sa température propre, sa lumière trop vive pour être religieuse, tantôt deserte, tantôt traversée par des sociétés de voyageurs, ou remplie d'une foule attirée par les cérémonies religieuses (à l'époque des jubilés le nombre des pélerins s'est parfois élevé à Rome, jusqu'à 400,000). Elle a ses reservoirs d'eau; sa fontaine coulant perpetuellement au pied de la grande coupole, dans un bassin de plomb, pour la commodité des travaux; ses rampes, par lesquelles les bêtes de somme peuvent monter; sa population fixe, habitant ses terrasses. Les San Pietriné, ouvriers chargés de tous les travaux qu'exige la conservation d'un aussi précieux edifice, s'y succèdent de père en fils, et forment une corporation qui a ses lois et sa police."—A. Du Pays.

The façade of St. Peter's is 357 feet long and 144 feet high. It is surmounted by a balustrade six feet in height, bearing statues of the Saviour and the Twelve Apostles. Over the central entrance is the loggia where the pope is crowned, and whence he gives the Easter benediction. The huge inscription runs—"In. Honorem. Principis. Apost. Paulus V. Burghesius. Romanus. Pont. Max. A. MDCXII. Pont. VII."

"I don't like to say the façade of the church is ugly and obtrusive. As long as the dome overawes, that façade is supportable. You advance towards it—through, O such a noble court! with fountains flashing up to meet the sunbeams; and right and left of you two sweeping half-crescents of great columns; but you pass by the courtiers and up to the steps of the throne, and the dome seems to disappear behind it. It is as if the throne was upset, and the king had toppled over."—Thackeray, The Newcomes.

A wide flight of steps, at the foot of which are statues of St. Peter by De Fabris, and St. Paul by Tadolini, lead by fine entrances to the Vestibule, which is 468 feet long, 66 feet high, and 50 feet wide. Closing it on the right is a statue of Constantine by Bernini—on the left that of Charlemagne by Cornacchini. Over the principal entrance (facing the door of the church) is the celebrated Mosaic of the Navicella, executed 1298, by Giotto, and his pupil, Pietro Cavallini.

"For the ancient basilica of St. Peter, Giotto executed his celebrated mosaic of the Navicella, which has an allegorical foundation. It represents a ship, with the disciples, on an agitated sea; the winds, personified as demons, storm against it; above appear the Fathers of the Old Testament speaking comfort to the sufferers. According to the early Christian symbolization, the ship denoted the Church. Nearer, and on the right, in a firm attitude, stands Christ, the Rock of the Church, raising Peter from the waves. Opposite sits a fisherman in tranquil expectation, denoting the hope of the believer. The mosaic has frequently changed its place, and has undergone so many restorations, that the composition alone can be attributed to Giotto. The fisherman and the figures hovering in the air are, in their present form, the work of Marcello Provenzale."—Kugler, i. 127.

"This mosaic is ill placed and ill seen for an especial reason. Early converts from paganism retained the heathen custom of turning round to venerate the sun before entering a church, so that in the old basilica, as here, the mosaic was thus placed to give a fitting object of worship. The learned Cardinal Baronius never, for a single day, during the space of thirty years, failed to bow before this symbol of the primitive Church, tossed on the stormy sea of persecution and of sin, saying, 'Lord, save me from the waves of sin as thou didst Peter from the waves of the sea.' "—Mrs. Elliot's Historical Pictures.

The magnificent central door of bronze is a remnant from the old basilica, and was made in the time of Eugenius IV., 1431—39, by Antonio Filarete, and Simone, brother of Donatello. The bas-reliefs of the compartments represent the martyrdoms of SS. Peter and Paul, and the principal events in the reign of Eugenius,—the Council of Florence, the Coronation of Sigismund, emperor of Germany, &c. The bas-reliefs of the framework are entirely mythological; Ganymede, Leda and her Swan, &c., are to be distinguished.

"Corinne fit remarquer à Lord Nelvil que sur les portes étaient représentées en bas-relief les métamorphoses d'Ovide. On ne se scandalise point à Rome, lui dit-elle, des images du paganisme, quand les beaux-arts les ont consacrées. Les merveilles du génie portent toujours à l'âme une impression religieuse, et nous faisons hommage au culte chrétien de tous les chefs-d'œuvre que les autres cultes ont inspirés."—Mad. de Staël.

Let into the wall between the doors are three remarkable inscriptions: 1. Commemorating the donation made to the church by Gregory II., of certain olive-grounds to provide oil for the lamps; 2. The bull of Boniface VIII., 1300, granting the indulgence proclaimed at every jubilee; 3. In the centre, the Latin epitaph of Adrian I. (Colonna, 772-95), by Charlemagne,[330] one of the most ancient memorials of the papacy:

"The father of the Church, the ornament of Rome, the famous writer Adrian, the blessed pope, rests in peace:

God was his life, love was his law, Christ was his glory;

He was the apostolic shepherd, always ready to do that which was right.

Of noble birth, and descended from an ancient race,

He received a still greater nobility from his virtues.

The pious soul of this good shepherd was always bent

Upon ornamenting the temples consecrated to God.

He gave gifts to the churches, and sacred dogmas to the people;

And showed us all the way to heaven.

Liberal to the poor, his charity was second to none,

And he always watched over his people in prayer.

By his teachings, his treasures, and his buildings, he raised,

O illustrious Rome, thy monuments, to be the honour of the town and of the world.

Death could not injure him, for its sting was taken away by the death of Christ;

It opened for him the gate of the better life.

I, Charles, have written these verses, while weeping for my father;

O my father, my beloved one, how lasting is my grief for thee.

Dost thou think upon me, as I follow thee constantly in spirit;

Now reign blessed with Christ in the heavenly kingdom.

The clergy and people have loved you with a heart-love,

Thou wert truly the love of the world, O excellent priest.

O most illustrious, I unite our two names and titles,

Adrian and Charles, the king and the father.

O thou who readest these verses, say with pious heart the prayer;

O merciful God, have pity upon them both.

Sweetly slumbering, O friend, may thy earthly body rest in the grave,

And thy spirit wander in bliss with the saints of the Lord

Till the last trumpet sounds in thine ears,

Then arise with Peter to the contemplation of God.

Yes, I know that thou wilt hear the voice of the merciful judge

Bid thee to enter the paradise of thy Saviour.

Then, O great father, think upon thy son,

And ask, that with the father the son may enter into joy.

Go, blessed father, enter into the kingdom of Christ,

And thence, as an intercessor, help thy people with thy prayers.

Even so long as the sun rolls upon its fiery axis,

Shall thy glory, O heavenly father, remain in the world.

Adrian the pope, of blessed memory, reigned for three-and-twenty years, ten months, and seventeen days, and died on the 25th of December."

The walled-up door on the right is the Porta Santa, only opened for the jubilee, which has taken place every twenty-fifth year (except 1850) since the time of Sixtus IV. The pope himself gives the signal for the destruction of the wall on the Christmas-eve before the sacred year.

"After preliminary prayers from Scripture singularly apt, the pope goes down from his throne, and, armed with a silver hammer, strikes the wall in the doorway, which, having been cut round from its jambs and lintel, falls at once inwards, and is cleared away in a moment by the San Pietrini. The pope, then, bare-headed and torch in hand, first enters the door, and is followed by his cardinals and his other attendants to the high altar, where the first vespers of Christmas Day are chaunted as usual. The other doors of the church are then flung open, and the great queen of churches is filled."—Cardinal Wiseman.

"Arrêtez-vous un moment ici, dit Corinne à Lord Nelvil, comme il était déjà sous le portique de l'église; arrêtez-vous, avant de soulever le rideau qui couvre la porte du temple; votre cœur ne bat-il pas à l'approche de ce sanctuaire? Et ne ressentez-vous pas, au moment d'entrer, tout ce que ferait éprouver l'attente d'un évènement solennel?"—Mad. de Staël.

We now push aside the heavy double curtain and enter the Basilica.

"Hilda had not always been adequately impressed by the grandeur of this mighty cathedral. When she first lifted the heavy leathern curtains, at one of the doors, a shadowy edifice in her imagination had been dazzled out of sight by the reality."—Hawthorne.

"The ulterior burst upon our astonished gaze, resplendent in light, magnificence, and beauty, beyond all that imagination can conceive. Its apparent smallness of size, however, mingled some degree of surprise, and even disappointment, with my admiration; but as I walked slowly up its long nave, empanelled with the rarest and richest marbles, and adorned with every art of sculpture and taste, and caught through the lofty arches opening views of chapels, and tombs, and altars of surpassing splendour, I felt that it was, indeed, unparalleled in beauty, in magnitude, and magnificence, and one of the noblest and most wonderful of the works of man."—Eaton's Rome.

"St Peter's, that glorious temple—the largest and most beautiful, it is said, in the world, produced upon me the impression rather of a Christian pantheon, than of a Christian church. The æsthetic intellect is edified more than the God-loving or God-seeking soul. The exterior and interior of the building appear to me more like an apotheosis of the popedom than a glorification of Christianity and its doctrine. Monuments to the popes occupy too much space. One sees all round the walls angels flying upwards with papal portraits, sometimes merely with papal tiaras."—Frederika Bremer.

"L'Architecture de St. Pierre est une musique fixée."—Madame de Staël.

"The building of St. Peter's surpasses all powers of description. It appears to me like some great work of nature, a forest, a mass of rocks, or something similar; for I never can realise the idea that it is the work of man. You strive to distinguish the ceiling as little as the canopy of heaven. You lose your way in St. Peter's, you take a walk in it, and ramble till you are quite tired; when divine service is performed and chaunted there, you are not aware of it till you come quite close. The angels in the Baptistery are enormous giants; the doves, colossal birds of prey; you lose all sense of measurement with the eye, or proportion; and yet who does not feel his heart expand, when standing under the dome, and gazing up at it."—Mendelssohn's Letters.

"But thou, of temples old, or altars new,

Standest alone—with nothing like to thee—

Worthiest of God, the holy and the true.

Since Zion's desolation, when that He

Forsook His former city, what could be

Of earthly structures, in His honour piled,

Of a sublimer aspect? Majesty,

Power, Glory, Strength, and Beauty,—all are aisled

In this eternal ark of worship undefiled.

"Enter: its grandeur overwhelms thee not;

And why? it is not lessen'd; but thy mind,

Expanded by the genius of the spot,

Has grown colossal, and can only find

A fit abode wherein appear enshrined

Thy hopes of immortality; and thou

Shalt one day, if found worthy, so defined,

See thy God face to face, as thou dost now

His Holy of Holies, nor be blasted by His brow."

Byron, Childe Harold.

"On pousse avec peine une grosse portière de cuir, et nous voici dans Saint-Pierre. On ne peut qu'adorer la religion qui produit de telles choses. Rien du monde ne peut être comparé à l'intérieur de Saint Pierre. Après un an de séjour à Rome, j'y allais encore passer des heures entières avec plaisir."—Fontana, Tempio Vaticano Illustrato.

"Tandis que, dans les églises gothiques, l'impression est de s'agenouiller, de joindre les mains avec un sentiment d'humble prière et de profond regret; dans Saint-Pierre au contraire, le mouvement involontaire serait d'ouvrir les bras en signe de joie, de relever la tête avec bonheur et épanouissement. Il semble, que là, le péché n'accable plus; le sentiment vif du pardon par le triomphe de la résurrection remplit seul le cœur."—Eugénie de la Ferronays.

"The temperature of St. Peter's seems, like the happy islands, to experience no change. In the coldest weather it is like summer to your feelings, and in the most oppressive heats it strikes you with a delightful sensation of cold—a luxury not to be estimated but in a climate such as this."—Eaton's Rome.

On each side of the nave are four pillars with Corinthian pilasters, and a rich entablature supporting the arches. The roof is vaulted, coffered, and gilded. The pavement is of coloured marble, inlaid from designs of Giacomo della Porta and Bernini. In the centre of the floor, immediately within the chief entrance, is a round slab of porphyry, upon which the emperors were crowned.

The enormous size of the statues and ornaments in St. Peter's do away with the impression of its vast size, and it is only by observing the living, moving figures, that one can form any idea of its colossal proportions. A line in the pavement is marked with the comparative size of the other great Christian churches. According to this the length of St Peter's is 613½ feet; of St. Paul's, London, 520½ feet; Milan Cathedral, 443 feet; St. Sophia, Constantinople, 360½ feet. The height of the dome in the interior is 405 feet; on the exterior, 448 feet. The height of the baldacchino is 94½ feet.

The first impulse will be to go up to the shrine, around which a circle of eighty-six gold lamps is always burning, and to look down into the Confessional, where there is a beautiful kneeling statue of Pope Pius VI. (Braschi, 1785—1800) by Canova. Hence one can gaze up into the dome, with its huge letters in purple-blue mosaic upon a gold ground (each six feet long).[331] "Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram ædificabo ecclesiam meam, et tibi dabo claves regni cœlorum." Above this are four colossal mosaics of the Evangelists from designs of the Cav. d'Arpino; the pen of St. Luke is seven feet in length.

"The cupola is glorious, viewed in its design, its altitude, or even its decorations; viewed either as a whole or as a part, it enchants the eye, it satisfies the taste, it expands the soul. The very air seems to eat up all that is harsh or colossal, and leaves us nothing but the sublime to feast on:—a sublime peculiar as the genius of the immortal architect, and comprehensible only on the spot."—Forsyth.

"Ce dôme, en le considérant même d'en bas, fait éprouver une sorte de terreur; on croit voir des abîmes suspendus sur sa tête."—Madame de Staël.

The Baldacchino, designed by Bernini in 1633, is of bronze, with gilt ornaments, and was made chiefly with bronze taken from the roof of the Pantheon. It covers the high altar, which is only used on the most solemn occasions. Only the pope can celebrate mass there, or a cardinal who is authorised by a papal brief.

"Without a sovereign priest officiating before and for his people, St. Peter's is but a grand aggregation of splendid churches, chapels, tombs, and works of art. With him, it becomes a whole, a single, peerless temple, such as the world never saw before. That central pile, with its canopy of bronze as lofty as the Farnese Palace, with its deep-diving stairs leading to a court walled and paved with precious stones, that yet seems only a vestibule to some cavern or catacomb, with its simple altar that disdains ornament in the presence of what is beyond the reach of human price,—that which in truth forms the heart of the great body, placed just where the heart should be, is then animated, and surrounded by living and moving sumptuousness. The immense cupola above it, ceases to be a dome over a sepulchre, and becomes a canopy over an altar; the quiet tomb beneath is changed into the shrine of relics below the place of sacrifice—the saints under the altar;—the quiet spot at which a few devout worshippers at most times may be found, bowing under the hundred lamps, is crowded by rising groups, beginning from the lowest step, increasing in dignity and in richness of sacred robes, till, at the summit and in the centre, stands supreme the pontiff himself, on the very spot which becomes him, the one living link in a chain, the first ring of which is rivetted to the shrine of the Apostles below.... St. Peter's is only itself when the pope is at the high altar, and hence only by, or for, him it is used."—Cardinal Wiseman.

The four huge piers which support the dome are used as shrines for the four great relics of the church, viz., 1. The lance of S. Longinus, the soldier who pierced the side of our Saviour, presented to Innocent VIII., by Pierre d'Aubusson, grandmaster of the Knights of Rhodes, who had received it from the Sultan Bajazet;[332] 2. The head of St. Andrew, said to have been brought from Achaia in 1460, when its arrival was celebrated by Pius II.; 3. A portion of the true cross, brought by Sta. Helena; 4. The napkin of Sta. Veronica, said, doubtless from the affinity of names, to bear the impression—vera-icon—of our Saviour's face.

"The 'Volto-Santo,' said to be the impress of the countenance of our Saviour on the handkerchief of Sta. Veronica, or Berenice, which wiped his brow on the way to Calvary, was placed in the Vatican by John VII., in 707, and afterwards transferred to the Church of Santo Spirito, where six Roman noblemen had the care of it, each taking charge of one of the keys with which it was locked up. Among the privileges enjoyed for this office, was that of receiving, every year, from the hospital of Santo Spirito at the feast of Pentecost, two cows, whose flesh, an ancient chronicle says, 'si mangiavano lì, con gran festa.' In 1440, this picture was carried back to St. Peter's, whence it has not since been moved. When I examined the head on the Veronica handkerchief, it struck me as undoubtedly a work of early Byzantine art, perhaps of the seventh or eighth century, painted on linen. It is with implicit acceptance of its claims that Petrarch alludes to it—'verendam populis Salvatoris Imaginem.' Ep. ix., lib. 2. During the republican domination in 1849, it was rumoured that about Easter, the canons of St. Peter saw the Volto-Santo turn pale, and ominously change colour while they gazed upon it."—Hemans' Catholic Italy, vol. i.

The ceremony of exhibiting the relics from the balcony above the statue of Sta. Veronica takes place on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Day, but the height is so great that nothing can really be distinguished.

"To-day we gazed on the Veronica—the holy impression left by our Saviour's face on the cloth Sta. Veronica presented to him to wipe his brow, bowed under the weight of the Cross. We had looked forward to this sight for days, for seven thousand years of indulgence from penance are attached to it.

"But when the moment came we could see nothing but a black board hung with a cloth, before which another white cloth was held. In a few minutes this was withdrawn, and the great moment was over, the glimpse of the sacred thing on which hung the fate of seven thousand years."—Schönberg-Cotta Chronicles.

The niches in the piers are occupied by four statues, of Longinus, St. Andrew, Sta. Helena, and Sta. Veronica, holding the napkin or "sudarium," "flourishing a marble pocket-handkerchief."[333]

"Malheureusement toutes ces statues pèchent par le goût. Le rococo, mis à la mode par le Bernin, est surtout exécrable dans le genre colossale. Mais la présence du génie de Bramante et de Michel-Ange se fait tellement sentir, que les choses ridicules ne le sont plus ici; elles ne sont qu' insignifiantes. Les statues colossales des piliers représentent: St. André, par François Quesnoy (Fiammingo), elle excita la jalousie du Bernin; St. Veronique par M. Mochi, dont il blamait les draperies volantes (dans un endroit clos). Un plaisant lui répondait que leur agitation provenait du vent qui soufflait par les crevasses de la coupole, depuis qu'il avait affaibli les piliers par des niches et tribunes: St. Hélène par A. Bolgi, St. Longin par Bernin."—A. Du Pays.

Not very far from the confessional, against the last pier on the right of the nave, stands the statue of St. Peter, said to have been cast by Leo the Great, from the old statue of Jupiter Capitolinus. It is of very rude workmanship. Its extended foot is eagerly kissed by Roman Catholic devotees, who then rub their foreheads against its toes. Protestants wonder at the feeling which this figure excites. Gregory II. wrote of it to Leo the Isaurian: "Christ is my witness, that when I enter the temple of the prince of the Apostles, and contemplate his image, I am filled with such emotion, that tears roll down my cheeks like the rain from heaven." On high festivals the statue is dressed up in full pontificals. On the day of the jubilee of Pius IX. (June 16, 1871), it was attired in a lace alb, stole, and gold-embroidered cope, fastened at the breast by a clasp of diamonds; and its foot was kissed by upwards of 20,000 persons during the day.

"La coutume antique chez les Grecs d'habiller et de parer les statues sacrées s'était conservée à Rome et s'y conserve encore. Tout le monde a vu la statue de saint Pierre revêtir dans les grandes solennités ses magnifiques habits de pape. On lavait les statues des dieux, on les frottait, on les frisait comme des poupées. Les divinités du Capitole avaient un nombreux domestique attaché à leur personne et qui était chargé de ce soin. L'usage romain a subsisté chez les populations latines de l'Espagne et elles l'ont porté jusqu'au Mexique où j'ai vu, à Puebla, la veille d'une fête, une femme de chambre faire une toilette en règle à une statue de la Vierge."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iv. 91.

Along the piers of the nave and transepts are ranged statues of the different Founders, male and female, of religious Orders.

Returning to the main entrance, we will now make the tour of the basilica. Those who expect to find monuments of great historical interest will, however, be totally disappointed. Scarcely anything remains above-ground which is earlier than the sixteenth century. Of the tombs of the eighty-seven popes who were buried in the old basilica, the greater part were totally lost at its destruction,—a few were removed to other churches (those of the Piccolomini to S. Andrea della Valle, &c.), and some fragments are still to be seen in the crypt. Only two monuments were replaced in the new basilica, those of the two popes who lived in the time and excited the indignation of Savonarola—"Sixtus IV., with whose cordial concurrence the assassination of Lorenzo di Medici was attempted—and Innocent VIII., the main object of whose policy was to secure place and power for his illegitimate children."

"The side-chapels are splendid, and so large that they might serve for independent churches. The monuments and statues are numerous, but all are subordinate, or unite harmoniously with the large and beautiful proportions of the chief temple. Everything there is harmony, light, beauty—an image of the church-triumphant, but a very worldly, earthly image; and whilst the mind enjoys its splendour, the soul cannot, in the higher sense, be edified by its symbolism."—Frederika Bremer.

The first chapel on the right derives its name from the Pietà of Michael Angelo, representing the dead Saviour upon the knees of the Madonna, a work of the great artist in his twenty-fourth year, upon an order from the French ambassador, Cardinal Jean de Villiers, abbot of St. Denis. The sculptor has inscribed his name (the only instance in which he has done so) upon the girdle of the Virgin. Francis I. attempted to obtain this group from Michael Angelo in 1507, together with the statue of Christ at the Minerva, "comme de choses que l'on m'a assuré estre des plus exquises et excellentes en votre art." Opening from this chapel are two smaller ones. That on the right has a Crucifix by Pietro Cavallini; the mosaic, representing St. Nicholas of Bari, is by Christofari. That on the left is called Cappella della Colonna Santa, from a column, said to have been brought from Jerusalem, and to have been that against which our Saviour leant, when he prayed and taught in the temple. It is inscribed:

"Hæc est illa columna in qua DNS Nr Jesus XPS appodiatus dum populo prædicabat et Deo pn̄o preces in templo effundebat adhærendo, stabatque una cum aliis undeci hic circumstantibus de Salomonis templo in triumphum. Hujus Basilicæ hic locata fuit demones expellit et immundis spiritibus vexatos liberos reddit et multa miracula cotidie facit. P. reverendissimum prem̄ et Dominum Dominus. Card. de Ursinis. A.D. MDCCCXXXVIII."

A more interesting object in this chapel is the sarcophagus (once used as a font) of Anicius Probus, a prefect of Rome in the fourth century, of the great family of the Anicii, to which St. Gregory the Great belonged. Its five compartments have bas-reliefs, representing Christ and the Apostles.

Returning to the aisle, on the right, is the tomb of Leo XII., Annibale della Genga (1823—29) by Fabris; on the left is the tomb of Christina of Sweden, daughter of Gustavus Adolphus, who died at Rome, 1689, by Carlo Fontana, with a bas-relief by Teudon, representing her abjuration of Protestantism in 1655, in the cathedral of Innspruck.

On the right is the altar of St. Sebastian, with a mosaic copy of Domenichino's picture at Sta. Maria degli Angeli; beyond which is the tomb of Innocent XII., Antonio Pignatelli (1691—1700). This was the last pope who wore the martial beard and moustache, which we see represented in his statue. Pignatella is Italian for a little cream-jug; in allusion to this we may see three little cream-jugs in the upper decorations of this monument, which is by Filippo Valle. On the left is the tomb, by Bernini, of the Countess Matilda, foundress of the temporal power of the popes, who died in 1115, was buried in a monastery near Mantua, and transported hither by Urban VIII. in 1635. The bas-relief represents the absolution of Henry IV. of Germany, by Hildebrand, which took place at her intercession and in her presence.

We now reach, on the right, the large Chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento, decorated with a fresco altar-piece, representing the Trinity, by Pietro da Cortona, and a tabernacle of lapis-lazuli and gilt bronze, copied from Bramante's little temple at S. Pietro in Montorio. Here is the magnificent tomb of Sixtus IV., Francesco della Rovere (1471—81), removed from the choir of the old St. Peter's, where it was erected by his nephew, Cardinal Giulio della Rovere, afterwards Pope Julius II. This pope's reign was entirely occupied with politics, and he was secretly involved in the conspiracy of the Pazzi at Florence; he was the first pope who carried nepotism to such an extent as to found a principality (Imola and Forli) for his nephew Girolamo Riario. The tomb is a beautiful work of the Florentine artist, Antonio Pollajuola, in 1493. The figure of the pope reposes upon a bronze couch, surrounded, in memory of his having taught successively in the six great universities of Italy, with allegorical bas-reliefs of Arithmetic, Astrology, Philology, Rhetoric, Grammar, Perspective, Music, Geography, Philosophy, and Theology, which last is represented like a pagan Diana, with a quiver of arrows on her shoulders. Close to this monument of his uncle, a flat stone in the pavement marks the grave of Julius II., for whom the grand tomb at S. Pietro in Vincoli was intended.

Returning to the aisle, we see on the right the tomb of Gregory XIII., Ugo Buoncompagni (1572—85), during whose reign the new calendar was invented, an event commemorated in a bas-relief upon the monument, which was not erected till 1723, and is by Camillo Rusconi. The figure of the pope (he died aged eighty-four) is in the attitude of benediction: beneath are Wisdom, represented as Minerva, and Faith, holding a tablet inscribed, "Novi opera hujus et fidem." Opposite this is the paltry tomb of Gregory XIV., Nicolo Sfrondati (1590—91).

"Le tombeau de Gregoire XIII., que le massacre de Saint Barthélemy réjouit si fort, est de marbre. Le tombeau de stuc ou d'abord il avait été placé, a été accordé, après son départ, au cendres de Grégoire XIV."—Stendhal.

On the left, against the great pier, is a mosaic copy of Domenichino's Communion of St. Jerome. On the right is the chapel of the Madonna, founded by Gregory XIII., and built by Giacomo della Porta. The cupola has mosaics by Girolamo Muziano. Beneath the altar is buried St. Gregory Nazianzen, removed hither from the convent of Sta. Maria in the Campo Marzo by Gregory XIII.

St. Gregory Nazianzen (or St. Gregory Theologos) was son of St. Gregory and St. Nonna, and brother of St. Gorgonia and St. Cesarea. He was born c. A.D. 328. In his childhood he was influenced by a vision of the two virgins, Temperance and Chastity, summoning him to pursue them to the joys of Paradise. Being educated at Athens (together with Julian the Apostate), he formed there a great friendship with St. Basil. He became first the coadjutor, afterwards the successor, of his father, in the bishopric of Nazianzen, but removed thence to Constantinople, where he preached against the Arians. By the influence of Theodosius, he was ordained Bishop of Constantinople, but was so worn out by the cabals and schisms in the Church, that he resigned his office, and retired to his paternal estate, where he passed the remainder of his life in the composition of Greek hymns and poems. He died May 9, A.D. 390.

On the right is the tomb of Benedict XIV., Prospero Lambertini (1740—58), by Pietro Bracci, a huge and ugly monument. On the left is the tomb of Gregory XVI., Mauro-Cappellari (1831—46), by Amici, erected in 1855 by the cardinals he had created.

Turning into the right transept, used as a council-chamber (for which purpose it proved thoroughly unsatisfactory), 1869—70, we find several fine mosaics from pictures, viz.: The Martyrdom of SS. Processus and Martinianus from the Valentin at the Vatican; the Martyrdom of St. Erasmus from Poussin; St. Wenceslaus, king of Bohemia, from Caroselli; Our Saviour walking on the sea to the boat of St. Peter, from Lanfranco.

Opposite to the last-named mosaic is the famous monument of Clement XIII., Carlo Rezzonico (1758—69), in whose reign the Order of Jesuits was attacked by all the sovereigns of the house of Bourbon, and expelled from Portugal, France, Spain, Naples, and Parma. The pope, who had long defended them, was about to yield to the pressure put upon him and had called a consistory for their suppression, but died suddenly on the evening before its assembling. This tomb, the greatest work of Canova, was uncovered April 4, 1795, in the presence of an immense crowd, with whom the sculptor mingled, disguised as an abbé, to hear their opinion. The pope (aged 75) is represented in prayer, upon a pedestal, beneath which is the entrance to a vault, guarded by two grand marble lions. On the right is Religion, standing erect with a cross; on the left the Genius of Death, holding a torch reversed. The beauty of this work of Canova is only felt when it is compared with the monuments of the seventeenth century in St. Peter's; "then it seems as if they were separated by an abyss of centuries."[334]

Beyond this are mosaics from the St. Michael of Guido at the Cappuccini, and from the Martyrdom of St. Petronilla, of Guercino, at the Capitol. Each of these large mosaics has cost about 150,000 francs.

Now, on the right, is the tomb of Clement X., Gio. Baptista Altieri (1670—76), by Rossi, the statue by Ercole Ferrata; and on the left, is a mosaic of St. Peter raising Tabitha from the dead, by Costanzi.

Ascending into the tribune, we see at the end of the church, beneath the very ugly window of yellow glass, the "Cathedra Petri" of Bernini, supported by figures of the four Fathers of the Church, Augustine, Ambrose, Chrysostom, and Athanasius. Enclosed in this, is a very ancient wooden senatorial chair, encrusted with ivory, which is believed to have been the episcopal throne of St. Peter and his immediate successors. Late Roman Catholic authorities (Mgr. Gerbet, &c.) consider that it may perhaps have been originally the chair of the senator Pudens, with whom the apostle lodged. A magnificent festival in honour of St. Peter's chair (Natale Petri de Cathedra) has been annually celebrated here from the earliest times, and is mentioned in a calendar of Pope Liberius of A.D. 354. It was said that if any pope were to reign longer than the traditional years of the government of St. Peter (Pius IX. is the first pope who has done so), St. Peter's chair would be again brought into use.

On the right of the chair is the tomb of Urban VIII., Matteo Barberini (1623—44), who was chiefly remarkable from his passion for building, and who is perpetually brought to mind through the immense number of his erections which still exist. The tomb is by Bernini, the architect of his endless fountains and public buildings, and has the usual fault of this sculptor in overloading his figures (except in that of Urban himself, which is very fine,[335]) with meaningless drapery. Figures of Charity and Justice stand by the black marble sarcophagus of the pope, and a gilt skeleton is occupied in inscribing the name of Urban on the list of Death. The whole monument is alive with the bees of the Barberini. The pendant tomb on the left is that of Paul III., Alessandro Farnese (1534—50), in whose reign the Order of the Jesuits was founded. This pope (the first Roman who had occupied the throne for 103 years—since Martin V.) was learned, brilliant, and witty. He was adored by his people, in spite of his intense nepotism, which induced him to form Parma into a duchy for his natural son Pierluigi, to build the Farnese Palace, and to marry his grandson Ottavio to Marguerite, natural daughter of Charles V., to whom he gave the Palazzo Madama and the Villa Madama as a dowry. His tomb, by Guglielmo della Porta, perhaps the finest in St. Peter's, cost 24,000 Roman crowns; it was erected in the old basilica just before its destruction in 1562,—and in 1574 was transferred to this church, where its position was the source of a quarrel between the sculptor and Michael Angelo, by whose interest he had obtained his commission.[336] It was first placed on the site where the Veronica now stands, whence it was moved to its present position in 1629. The figure of the pope is in bronze. In its former place four marble statues adorned the pedestal; two are now removed to the Farnese Palace; those which remain, of Prudence and Justice, were once entirely nude, but were draped by Bernini. The statue of Prudence is said to represent Giovanna Gaetani da Sermoneta, the mother of the pope, and that of Justice his famous sister-in-law, Giulia.

"On a dit de ces figures que c'était le Rubens en sculpture."—A. Du Pays.

Near the steps of the tribune are two marble slabs, on which Pius IX. has immortalised the names of the cardinals and bishops who, on December 8, 1854, accepted, on this spot, his dogma of the Immaculate Conception.

Turning towards the left transept;—on the left is a mosaic of St. Peter healing the lame man, from Mancini. On the right is the tomb of Alexander VIII., Pietro Ottobuoni (1689—91), by Giuseppe Verlosi and Angelo Rossi, gorgeous in its richness of bronze, marbles, and alabasters. Beyond this is the altar of Leo the Great, over which is a huge bas-relief, by Algardi, representing S. Leo calling down the assistance of SS. Peter and Paul against the invasion of Attila.

"The king of the Huns, terrified by the apparition of the two apostles in the air, turns his back and flies. We have here a picture in marble, with all the faults of taste and style which prevailed at that time, but the workmanship is excellent; it is, perhaps, the largest bas-relief in existence, excepting the rock sculpture of the Indians and Egyptians—at least fifteen feet in height."—Jameson's Sacred Art, p. 685.

Next to this is the Cappella della Colonna, possessing a much revered Madonna from a pillar of the old basilica, and beneath it an ancient Christian sarcophagus containing the remains of Leo II. (ob. 683), Leo III. (ob. 816), and Leo IV. (ob. 855). In the pavement near these two altars is the slab tomb of Leo XII. (ob. 1828), with an epitaph illustrating Invocation of Saints, but touching in its humility.

"Commending myself, a suppliant, to my great celestial patron Leo, I, Leo XII., his humble client, unworthy of so great a name, have chosen a place of sepulture, near his holy ashes."

Over the door known as the Porta Sta. Marta (from the church in the square behind St. Peter's, to which it leads), is the tomb of Alexander VII., Fabio Chigi (1655—67), the last work of Bernini, who had built for this pope the Scala-Regia and the Colonnade of St. Peter's. This is, perhaps, the worst of all the papal monuments—a hideous figure of Death is pushing aside an alabaster curtain and exhibiting his hour-glass to the kneeling pope.

Opposite to this tomb is an oil painting on slate, by Francesco Vanni, of the Fall of Simon Magus. The south transept has a series of mosaic pictures; The Incredulity of St. Thomas from Camuccini, the Crucifixion of St. Peter and a St. Francis from Guido, and, on the pier of the Cupola, Ananias and Sapphira from the Roncalli at Sta. Maria degli Angeli, and the Transfiguration from Raphael.[337]

Opposite the mosaic of Ananias and Sapphira is the last tomb erected in St. Peter's, that of Pius VIII., Francesco Castiglione (1829—31), by Tenerani. It represents the pope kneeling, and above him the Saviour in benediction, with SS. Peter and Paul. It is of no great merit.

The Cappella Clementina has the Miracle of St. Gregory the Great from the Andrea Sacchi at the Vatican. Close to this is the fine tomb of Pius VII., Gregorio Chiaramonte (1800—23), who crowned Napoleon,—who suffered exile for seven years for refusing to abdicate the temporal power,—and who returned in triumph to die at the Quirinal, after having re-established the Order of the Jesuits. His monument is the work of Thorwaldsen, graceful and simple, though perhaps too small to be in proportion to the neighbouring tombs. The figure of the pope, a gentle old man (he died at the age of eighty-one, having reigned twenty-three years), is seated in a chair; figures of Courage and Faith adorn the pedestal. The tomb was erected by Cardinal Gonsalvi, the faithful friend and minister of this pope (who died very poor, having spent all his wealth in charity), at an expense of 27,000 scudi.

Turning into the left aisle,—on the right is the tomb of Leo XI., Alessandro de Medici (1605), to which one is inclined to grudge so much space, considering that the pope it commemorates only reigned twenty-six days. The tomb, in allusion to this short life, is sculptured with flowers, and bears the motto, Sic Florui. It is the work of Algardi. The figures of Wisdom and Abundance, which adorn the pedestal, are fine specimens of this allegorical type.

Opposite, is the tomb of Innocent XI., Benedetto Odescalchi (1676—89), by Etienne Monot, with a bas-relief representing the raising of the siege of Vienna by King John Sobieski.

Near this, is the entrance to the Cappella del Coro, the very inconvenient chapel (decorated with gilding and stucco by Giacomo della Porta), in which the vesper services are held. The altar-piece is a mosaic copy of the Conception by Pietro Bianchi at the Angeli. In the pavement is the gravestone of Clement XI., Giov. Francesco Albani (1700—21).

Under the next arch of the aisle, on the left, is the interesting tomb of Innocent VIII., Gio. Battista Cibò (1484—92), by Pietro and Antonio Pollajuolo. The pope is represented asleep upon his sarcophagus, and a second time above, seated on a throne, his right hand extended in benediction, and his left holding the sacred lance of Longinus (said to have been that which pierced the side of our Saviour), sent to him by the sultan Bajazet. It is supposed that it was owing to the representation of this relic, that this tomb alone (except that of Sixtus IV., uncle of the destroyer), was replaced after the destruction of the old basilica. Upon the sarcophagus of the pope is inscribed, in allusion to the name of Innocent, the 11th verse of the 26th Psalm, "In innocentiâ meâ ingressus sum, redime me Domine et miserere mei." Opposite, is a tomb which is a kind of Memento Mori to the living pope, which always bears the name of his predecessor, and in which his corpse will be deposited, till his real tomb is prepared. "This tomb is now empty, and awaits its prey, Pius IX."[338]

Passing the Cappella della Presentazione, which contains a mosaic from the "Presentation of the Virgin," by Romanelli, we reach the last arch, which contains the tombs of the Stuarts. On the right is the monument, by Filippo Barigioni, of Maria Clementina Sobieski, wife of James III., called in the inscription "Queen of Great Britain, France, and Ireland"; on the left is that by Canova to the three Stuart princes, James III. and his sons, Charles Edward, and Henry—Cardinal York. It bears this inscription:

"JACOBO III.

JACOBI II., MAGNÆ BRIT. REGIS FILIO

KAROLO EDOARDO

ET HENRICO, DECANO PATRUM

CARDINALIUM,

JACOBI III. FILIIS,

REGLÆ STIRPIS STVARDIÆ POSTREMIS

ANNO MDCCCXIX

BEATI MORTUI QUI IN DOMINO MORIUNTUR."

"George IV., fidèle à sa réputation du gentleman le plus accompli des trois royaumes, a voulu honorer la cendre des princes malheureux que de leur vivant il eût envoyés à l'échafaud s'ils fussent tombés en son pouvoir."—Stendhal.

"Beneath the unrivalled dome of St. Peter's, lie mouldering the remains of what was once a brave and gallant heart; and a stately monument from the chisel of Canova, and at the charge, as I believe, of the house of Hanover, has since arisen to the memory of James the Third, Charles the Third, and Henry the Ninth, Kings of England,—names which an Englishman can scarcely read without a smile or a sigh! Often at the present day does the British traveller turn from the sunny crest of the Pincian, or the carnival throng of the Corso, to gaze, in thoughtful silence, on that mockery of human greatness, and that last record of ruined hopes! The tomb before him is of a race justly expelled; the magnificent temple that enshrines it is of a faith wisely reformed; yet who at such a moment would harshly remember the errors of either, and might not join in the prayer even of that erring Church for the departed, 'Requiescant in pace.'"—Lord Mahon.

The last chapel is the Baptistery, and contains, as a font, the ancient porphyry cover of the sarcophagus of Hadrian, which was afterwards used for the tomb of the Emperor Otho II. The mosaic of the Baptism of our Saviour is from Carlo Maratta.

Distributed around the whole basilica are confessionals for every Christian tongue.

"Au milieu de toutes les créations hardies et splendides de l'art dans le basilique de St. Pierre, il est une impression morale qui saisit l'esprit, à la vue des confessionaux des diverses langues. Il y a là encore une autre espèce de grandeur."—A. Du Pays.

The Crypt of St. Peter's can always be visited by gentlemen, on application in the sacristy; but by ladies only with a special permission. The entrance is near the statue of Sta. Veronica. The visitor is terribly hurried in his inspection of this, the most historically interesting part of the basilica, and the works of art it contains are so ill-arranged, as to be difficult to investigate or remember. The crypt is divided into two portions, the Grotte Nuove, occupying the area beneath the dome, and opening into some ancient lateral chapels,—and the Grotte Vecchie, which extended under the whole nave of the old basilica, and reaches as far as the Cappella del Coro of the present edifice.

The first portion entered is a corridor in the Grotte Nuove. Hence open, on the right, two ancient chapels. The first, Sta. Maria in Portico, derives its name from a picture of the Virgin, attributed to Simone Memmi, which stood in the portico of the old basilica; it contains, besides several statues from the magnificent monument of Nicholas V., which perished with the old church, a statue of St. Peter which stood in the portico, and the cross which crowned its summit. The second chapel, Sta. Maria delle Partorienti, has a mosaic of our Saviour in benediction, from the tomb of Otho II.; a mosaic of the Virgin, of the eighth century; several ancient inscriptions; and, at the entrance, statues of the two apostles James, from the tomb of Nicholas V. Behind this chapel were preserved the remains of Leo II., III., and IX., till they were removed to the upper church by Leo XII.

Entering the Grotte Vecchie, we find a nave and aisles separated by pilasters with low arches. Following the south aisle we are first arrested by the marble inscription relating to the donation of lands made by the Countess Matilda to the church in 1102. Near this is the small Cappella del Salvatore, containing a bas-relief of the Virgin and Child by Arnolfo, which once decorated the tomb of Boniface VIII.,—and the grave of Charlotte, Queen of Cyprus, who died in 1487. Near this are the sepulchral urns of the three Stuart princes, commemorated in the upper church. At the end of this aisle is the tomb of the Emperor Otho II., who died at Rome in A.D. 983; this formerly stood in the portico of the basilica.

Here is the empty tomb of Alexander VI., Rodrigo Borgia (1492—1503), the wicked and avaricious father of Cæsar and Lucretia, who is believed to have died of the poison which he intended for one of his cardinals. The body of this pope was not allowed to rest in peace. Julius II., the bitter enemy of the Borgias, turned it out of its tomb, and had it carried to S. Giacomo degli Spagnuoli, whence, when that church was pulled down, it was taken to Sta. Maria di Monserrato. The empty sarcophagus is surmounted by the figure of Alexander, who was himself a handsome old man, and in whose features may be traced the lineaments of the splendid Cæsar Borgia, known to us from the picture in the Borghese Palace.

At the end of the central nave is the sarcophagus of Christina of Sweden, who has a monument in the upper church.

The first tomb in the south aisle, beginning from the west, is that of Boniface VIII., Benedetto Gaetani (1294—1303).

"The last prince of the Church, who understood the papacy in the sense of universal dominion, in the spirit of Gregory VII., of Alexander and Innocent III. Two kings held the bridle of his palfrey as he rode from St Peter's to the Lateran after his election. He received Dante as the ambassador of Florence; in 1300 he instituted the jubilee; and his reign—filled with contests with Philip le Bel of France and the Colonnas—ended in his being taken prisoner in his palace at Anagni by Sciarra Colonna and William of Nogaret, and subjected to the most cruel indignities. He was rescued by his fellow-citizens and conducted to Rome by the Orsini, but he died thirty seven days after of grief and mortification. The Ghibelline story relates that he sate alone silently gnawing the top of his staff, and at length dashed out his brains against the wall, or smothered himself with his own pillows. But the contemporary verse of the Cardinal St. George describes him as dying quietly in the midst of his cardinals, at peace with the world, and having received all the consolations of the Church."—See Milman's Latin Christianity, vol. V.

The character of Boniface has ever been one of the battlefields of history. He was scarcely dead when the epitaph, "He came in like a fox, he ruled like a lion, he died like a dog," was proclaimed to Christendom. He was consigned by Dante to the lowest circle of Hell; yet even Dante expressed the universal shock with which Christendom beheld "the Fleur de lis enter Anagni, and Christ again captive in his Vicar,—the mockery, the gall and vinegar, the crucifixion between living robbers, the cruelty of the second Pilate." In later times, Tosti, Drumann, and lastly, Cardinal Wiseman, have engaged in his defence.

Boniface VIII. was buried with the utmost magnificence in a splendid chapel, which he had built himself, and adorned with mosaics, and where a grand tomb was erected to him. Of this nothing remains now, but the sarcophagus, which bears a majestic figure of the pope by Arnolfo del Cambio.

"The head is unusually beautiful, severe and noble in its form, and corresponds perfectly with the portrait which we have (at the Lateran) from the hand of Giotto, which represents his face as beardless and of the most perfect oval. His head is covered by a long, pointed mitre, like a sugar-loaf, decked with two crowns. This proud man was indeed the first who wore the double crown,—all his predecessors having been content with a simple crowned mitre. This new custom existed till the tune of Urban V., by whom the third crown was added."—Gregorovius, Grabmäler der Päpste.

Close to that of Boniface are the sarcophagi of Pius II., Æneas Sylvius Piccolomini (1458—64) and Pius III., Antonio Todeschini Piccolomini (1503), whose monuments are removed to S. Andrea della Valle.

Next beyond Boniface is the tomb of Adrian IV. (Nicholas Breakspeare, 1154—59), the only Englishman who ever occupied the papal throne.[339] He is buried in a pagan sarcophagus of red granite, adorned with Medusa heads in relief, and without any inscription.

Opposite this, is a sarcophagus bearing the figure of Nicholas V., Tomaso di Sarzana(1447—55), being nearly all that has been preserved of the glorious tomb of that pope, who founded the Vatican library, collected around him a court of savants and poets, and "with whom opened the age of papacy to which belonged the times of Julius II. and Leo X." His epitaph, attributed to Pius II., is by his secretary Mafeo Vegio.

"The bones of Nicholas V. rest in this grave,

Who gave to thee, O Rome! thy golden age.

Famous in council, more famous in shining virtue,

He honoured wise men, who was himself the wisest of all.

He gave healing to the world, long wounded with schism,

And renewed at once its manners and customs, and the buildings and temples of the city.

He gave an altar to St. Bernardino of Siena

When he celebrated the holy year of jubilee.

He crowned with gold the forehead of Frederick and his wife,

And gave order to the affairs of Italy by the treaty which he made.

He translated many Greek writings into the Latin tongue;—

Then offer incense to-day at his holy grave."

Next comes a remnant of the tomb of Paul II., Pietro Barbo (1464—71), chiefly remarkable for his personal beauty, of which he was so vain, that when he issued from the conclave as pope, he wished to take the name of Formosus. This pontiff built the Palazzo S. Marco, and gave a name to the Corso, by establishing the races there. He also prepared for himself one of the most splendid tombs in the old basilica, for which he obtained Mino da Fiesole as an architect It was his wish to lie in the porphyry sarcophagus of Sta. Costanza, which he stole from her church for this purpose; hence the simplicity of the existing sarcophagus, which bears his effigy. Beyond this, are sarcophagi of Julius III., Gio. Maria Ciocchi del Monte (1550—55), builder of the Villa Papa Giulio; and Nicholas III., Orsini (1277—81), who made a treaty with Rudolph of Hapsburg, and obtained from him a ratification of the donation of the Countess Matilda. Then comes the sarcophagus of Urban VI., Bartolomeo Prignani (1378—87), the sole relic of a most magnificent tomb of this cruel pope, who is believed to have died of poison. It bears his figure, and in the front, a bas-relief of him receiving the keys from St. Peter. His epitaph runs:

"Here rests the just, wise, and noble prince,

Urban VI., a native of Naples.

He, full of zeal, gave a safe refuge to the teachers of the faith.

That gained for him, noble one, a fatal poison cup at the close of the repast.

Great was the schism, but great was his courage in opposing it,

And in the presence of this mighty pope Simony sate dumb.

But it is needless to reiterate his praises upon earth,

While heaven is shining with his immortal glory."

"Sepelitur in beati Petri Basilica, paucis admodum ejus mortem, utpote hominis rustici et inexorabilis, flentibus. Hujus autem sepulchrum adhuc visitur cum epitaphio satis rustico et inepto."—Platina.

Next come the sarcophagi of Innocent VII., Cosmato de Miliorati (1404—6), bearing his figure; of Marcellus II., Marcello Cervini (1555), who only reigned twenty-five days; and of Innocent IX., Giov. Antonio Facchinetti (1591—92), who reigned only sixty.

Near these is the urn of Agnese Gaetani Colonna, the only lady not of royal birth buried in the basilica.

Hence we return to the corridor of the Grotte Nuove, containing a number of mosaics and statues detached from different papal tombs, the best being those from that of Nicholas V. and that of Paul II., by Mino da Fiesole (a figure of Charity is especially beautiful), and a bas-relief of the Virgin and Child, by Arnolfo, from the tomb of Benedict VIII.

Here also are a half-length statue of Boniface VIII., ascribed to Andrea Pisano; a half-length of Benedict XII., by Paolo di Siena; and a figure of St. Peter seated on a gothic throne which once supported a statue of Benedict XII.

The Chapel of St. Longinus has a mosaic from a picture by Andrea Sacchi. Near the entrance of the shrine are marble reliefs of the martyrdoms of St. Peter and St. Paul. Opposite to the entrance of the shrine is the magnificent sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, Christian prefect of Rome, who died A.D. 359. It was discovered near its present site in 1595. It is adorned with admirable sculptures from the Old and New Testament.

Opening from the centre of the circular passage is the Confession or Shrine of SS. Peter and Paul, which contains the sarcophagus brought from the Catacomb near S. Sebastiano in 257, and which the Roman Catholic Church has always revered as that of St. Peter. On the altar, consecrated in 1122, are two ancient pictures of St. Peter and St. Paul. Only half the bodies of the saints are held to be preserved here, the other portion of that of St. Peter being at the Lateran, and of St. Paul at S. Paolo fuori Mura.

To the Roman Catholic mind this is naturally one of the most sacred spots in the world, since it holds literally the words of St. Ambrose, that: "Where Peter is, there is the Church,—and where the Church is, there is no death, but life eternal."[340]

"From this place Peter, from this place Paul, shall be caught up in the resurrection. Oh consider with trembling that which Rome will behold, when Paul suddenly rises with Peter from this sepulchre, and is carried up into the air to meet the Lord."—St. John Chrysostom, Homily on the Ep. to the Romans.

"Among the cemeteries ascribed by tradition to apostolic times, the crypts of the Vatican would have the first claim on our attention, had they not been almost destroyed by the foundations of the vast basilica which guards the tomb of St. Peter.... The Liber Pontificalis says that Anacletus, the successor of Clement in the Apostolic See, 'built and adorned the sepulchral monument (construxit memoriam) of blessed Peter, since he had been ordained priest by St. Peter, and other burial-places where the bishops might be laid.' It is added that he himself was buried there; and the same is recorded of Linus and Cletus, and of Evaristus, Sixtus I., Telesphorus, Hyginus, Pius I., Eleutherius, and Victor, the last of whom was buried A.D. 203; and after St. Victor, no other pontiff is recorded to have been buried at the Vatican until Leo the Great was laid in St. Peter's, A.D. 461. The idea conveyed by the words construxit memoriam is that of a monument above-ground according to the usual Roman custom; and we have seen that such a monument, even though it covered the tomb of Christian bishops, would not be likely to be disturbed at any time during the first or second century. For the reason we have already stated, it is impossible to confront these ancient notices with any existing monuments. It is worth mentioning, however, that De Rossi believes that the sepulchre of St. Linus was discovered in this very place early in the seventeenth century, bearing simply the name of Linus."—Northcote and Brownlow, Roma Setterranea.

To ascend the Dome of St. Peter's requires a special order. The entrance is from the first door in the left aisle, near the tomb of Maria-Clementina Sobieski. The ascent is by an easy staircase à cordoni, the walls of which bear memorial tablets of all the royal personages who have ascended it. The aspect of the roof is exceedingly curious from the number of small domes and houses of workmen with which it is studded,—quite a little village in themselves. A chamber in one of the pillars which support the dome contains a model of the ancient throne of St. Peter, and a model of the church, by Michael Angelo and his predecessor, Antonio di Sangallo. The dome is 300 feet above the roof, and 613½ feet in circumference. An iron staircase leads thence to the ball, which is capable of containing sixteen persons.

"Cette hauteur fait frémir," dit Beyle, "quand on songe aux tremblements de terre qui agitent fréquemment l'Italie, et qu'un instant peut vous priver du plus beau monument qui existe. Certainement jamais il ne serait relevé: nous sommes trop raisonables."

"De Brosse raconte que deux moines espagnoles, qui se trouvaient dons la boule de St. Pierre lors de la secousse de 1730, eurent une telle peur, que l'un d'eux mourut sur la place."—A. Du Pays.

The Sacristy of St. Peter's, which is entered by a grey marble door on the left, before turning into the south transept, was built by Pius VI., in 1755, from designs of Carlo Marchione. It consists of three halls, with a corridor adorned with columns and inscriptions from the old church, and with statues of SS. Peter and Paul, which stood in front of it. The central hall, Sagrestia Commune, is adorned with eight fluted pillars of grey marble (bigio) from Hadrian's Villa. On the left is the Sagrestia dei Canonici, with the Cappella dei Canonici, which has two pictures, the Madonna and Saints (Anna, Peter, and Paul), by Francesco Penni, and the Madonna and Child, Giulio Romano. Hence opens the Stanza Capitolare, containing an interesting remnant of the many works of Giotto in the old basilica under Boniface VIII. (for which he received 3020 gold florins), in three panel pictures belonging to the ciborium for the high altar ordered by Cardinal Stefaneschi, and representing,—Christ with that Cardinal,—the Crucifixion of St. Peter,—the Execution of St. Peter,—and on the back of the same panel, another picture, in which Cardinal Stefaneschi is offering his ciborium to St. Peter.

"The fragments which are preserved of the painting which Giotto executed for the Church of St. Peter cannot fail to make us regret its loss. The fragments are treated with a grandeur of style which has led Rumohr to suspect that the susceptible imagination of Giotto was unable to resist the impression which the ancient mosaics of the Christian basilicas must have produced upon him."—Rio. Poetry of Christian Art.

Here also are several fragments of the frescoes (of angels and apostles), by Melozzo da Forlì, which existed in the former dome of the SS. Apostoli, and of which the finest portion is now at the Quirinal Palace. On the right is the Sagrestia dei Benefiziati, which contains a picture of the Saviour giving the keys to St. Peter, by Muziano, and an image called La Madonna della Febbre, which stood in the old Sacristy. Opening hence is the Treasury of St. Peter's, containing some ancient jewels, crucifixes, and candelabra, by Benvenuto Cellini and Michael Angelo, and, among other relics, the famous sacerdotal robe called the Dalmatica di Papa San Leone, "said to have been embroidered at Constantinople for the coronation of Charlemagne as Emperor of the West, but fixed by German criticism as a production of the twelfth, or the early part of the thirteenth century. The emperors, at least, have worn it ever since, while serving as deacons at the pope's altar during their coronation-mass."

"It is a large robe of stiff brocade, falling in broad and unbroken folds in front and behind,—broad and deep enough for the Goliath-like stature and the Herculean chest of Charlemagne himself. On the breast the Saviour is represented in glory, on the back the Transfiguration, and on the two shoulders Christ administering the Eucharist to the Apostles. In each of these last compositions, our Saviour, a stiff but majestic figure, stands behind the altar, on which are deposited a chalice and a paten or basket containing crossed wafers. He gives, in the one case, the cup to St. Paul, in the other the bread to St. Peter,—they do not kneel, but bend reverently to receive it; five other disciples await their turn in each instance,—all are standing.

"I do not apprehend your being disappointed with the Dalmatica di San Leone, or your dissenting from my conclusion, that a master, a Michael-Angelo I would almost say, then flourished at Byzantium.

"It was in this Dalmatica—then semée all over with pearls and glittering in freshness—that Cola di Rienzi robed himself over his armour in the sacristy of St. Peter's and thence ascended to the Palace of the Popes, after the manner of the Cæsars, with sounding trumpets and his horsemen following him—his truncheon in his hand and his crown on his head—'terribile e fantastico,' as his biographer describes him—to wait upon the Legate."—Lord Lindsay's Christian Art, i. 137.

Above the Sacristy are the Archives of St. Peter's, containing, among many other ancient MSS., a life of St. George, with miniatures, by Giotto. The entrance to the Archivio, at the end of the corridor, is adorned with fragments of the chains of the ports of Smyrna and Tunis. Here, also, is a statue of Pius VI., by Agostino Penna.

It is quite worth while to leave St. Peter's by the Porta Sta. Marta beneath the tomb of Alexander VII., in order to examine the exterior of the church from behind, where it completely dwarfs all the surrounding buildings. Among these are the Church of S. Stefano, with a fine door composed of antique fragments, and the dismal Church of Sta. Marta, which contains several of the Roman weights known as "Pietra di Paragone," said to have been used in the martyrdoms. Beyond the Sacristy is the pretty little Cimeterio dei Tedeschi, the oldest of Christian burial-grounds, said to have been set apart by Constantine, and filled with earth from Calvary. It was granted to the Germans in 1779, by Pius VI. Close by is the Church of Sta. Maria della Pietà in Campo Santo.

Not far from hence (in a street behind the nearest colonnade) is the Palazzo del Santo Uffizio—or of the Inquisition. This body, for some time past, suppressed everywhere except in the States of the Pope, was established here in 1536 by Paul III., acting on the advice of Cardinal Caraffa, afterwards Paul IV., for inquiry into cases of heresy, and the punishment of ecclesiastical offences. It was by the authority of the "Holy Office" that the "Index" of prohibited books was first drawn up. Paul IV., on his deathbed, summoned the cardinals to his side, and recommended to them this "Santissimo Tribunale," as he called it, and succeeding popes have protected and encouraged it. The character of the Inquisition has been much changed from that which it bore three hundred years ago; but even in late years, many cases of extreme severity have been reported,—especially one of a French bishop cruelly imprisoned for sixteen years in one of its dungeons (merely because he had received his consecration from a French constitutional prelate), and who was only released when its doors were opened in the revolution of 1848.

"Within these walls has been confined for many years a very extraordinary person—the archbishop of Memphis.... Pope Leo XII. received a letter from the Pacha of Egypt informing his Holiness, that he and a large portion of his subjects desired to be received into the bosom of the Church of Rome; and announcing that he and they were willing to conform, provided the pope would send out an archbishop, with a suitable train of ecclesiastics, and requesting that his Holiness would do him the favour of appointing a certain young student whom he named, the first archbishop of Memphis, and despatch him to Egypt. No doubt was entertained as to the truth of this communication, but an objection presented itself in the youth of the ecclesiastical student whom the Pacha wished to have as his archbishop. The pope consulted his cardinals, who advised him not to make the dangerous precedent of raising a novice to so high a rank in the Church, but his Holiness, tempted by the desire of converting a kingdom to Christianity, resolved to conform to the wishes of the Pacha, and did consecrate the youth archbishop of Memphis. The archbishop was sent out attended by a train of priests to Egypt. When the ship arrived, the authorities in Egypt declared the affair was an imposition. His Grace confessed the fraud, was arrested, and reconducted to Rome. He was the author of the letter which imposed on the pope—his original intention having been to confess to the pope as a priest, after his consecration, the imposition he had practised; and as the pope could not betray a secret imparted to him at the confessional, the offender might have obtained absolution, and escaped punishment. Whether this would have been practicable I know not; but it was not accomplished, and as the youth had the rank of archbishop indelibly imprinted on him, nothing remained but to confine his Grace for the remainder of his life; and accordingly he was confined to this prison near the Vatican, whence he may find it difficult to escape."—Whiteside's Italy, 1860.

The tribunal of the Inquisition was formally abolished by the Roman Assembly in February, 1849, but was re-established by Pius IX. in the following June. Its meetings, however, now take place in the Vatican, and the old palace of the Holy Office was long used as a barrack for French soldiers.

In the interior of the building is a lofty hall, with gloomy frescoes of Dominican saints,—and many terrible dungeons and cells in which the victim is unable to stand upright, having their vaulted ceilings lined with reeds, to deaden sound,—but all this is seldom seen. When the people rushed into the Inquisition at the revolution, a number of human bones were found in these vaults, which so excited the popular fury, that an attack on the Dominican convent at the Minerva was anticipated. Ardent defenders of the papacy maintain that these bones had been previously transported to the Inquisition from a cemetery, to get up a sensation.[341]

Built up into the back of this palace is the tribune of the Church of S. Salvatore in Torrione or in Macello, whose foundation is ascribed to Charlemagne (797). Senerano (Sette Chiese) supposes that the French had here their schola or special centre for worship and assemblage. The windows of this building are among the few examples of gothic in Rome, and there are good terra-cotta mouldings. It may best be seen from the Porta Cavalleggieri, which was designed by Sangallo, and derives its name from the cavalry barracks close by.

A short distance from the lower end of the Colonnade is the Church of S. Michaele in Sassia, whose handsome tower is a relic of the church founded by Leo IV., who built the walls of the Borgo, especially for funeral masses for the souls of those who fell in its defence against the Saracens. Raphael Mengs is buried in the modern church.

The name of this church commemorates the Saxon settlement "called Burgus Saxonum, Vicus Saxonum, Schola Saxonum, and simply Saxia or Sassia,"[342] founded c. 727 by Ina, king of Wessex, and enlarged in 794 by Offa, king of Mercia, when he made a pilgrimage to Rome in penance for the murder of Ethelbert, king of East-Anglia. Ina founded here a church, "Sta. Maria quæ vocatur Schola Saxorum," which is mentioned as late as 854. Dyer (Hist. of the City of Rome) says that "when Leo IV. enclosed this part of the city, it obtained the name of Borgo, from the Burgus Saxonum, and one of the gates was called Saxonum Posterula. The 'Schola Francorum' was also in the Borgo."

CHAPTER XVI.

THE VATICAN.

History of the Vatican Quarter and of the Palace—Scala Regia—Pauline Chapel—Sistine Chapel—Sala Ducale—Court of St. Damasus—Galleria Lapidaria—Braccio Nuovo—Museo Chiaramonti—The Belvedere—Gallery of Statues—Hall of Busts—Sala delle Muse—Sala Rotonda—Sala a Croce Greca—Galleria dei Candelabri—Galleria degli Arazzi—Library—Appartamenti Borgia—Etruscan Museum—Egyptian Museum—Gardens—Villa Pia—Loggie—Stanze—Chapel of S. Lorenzo—Gallery of Pictures.

THE hollow of the Janiculum between S. Onofrio and the Monte Mario is believed to have been a site of Etruscan divination.

"Fauni vatesque canebant."

Ennius.

Hence the name, which is now only used in regard to the papal palace and the basilica of St. Peter, but which was once applied to the whole district between the foot of the hill and the Tiber near S. Angelo.

" ... ut paterni

Fluminis ripæ, simul et jocosa

Redderet laudes tibi Vaticani

Montis imago."

Horace, i. Od. 20.

Tacitus speaks of the unwholesome air of this quarter. In this district was the Circus of Caligula, adjoining the gardens of his mother Agrippina, decorated by the obelisk which now stands in the front of St. Peter's.[343] Here Seneca describes that while Caligula was walking by torchlight, he amused himself by the slaughter of a number of distinguished persons—senators and Roman ladies. Afterwards it became the Circus of Nero, who from his adjoining gardens used to watch the martyrdom of the Christians[344]—mentioned by Suetonius as "a race given up to a new and evil superstition"—and who used their living bodies, covered with pitch and set on fire, as torches for his nocturnal promenades.

The first residence of the popes at the Vatican was erected by St. Symmachus (A.D. 498—514) near the forecourt of the old St. Peter's, and here Charlemagne is believed to have resided on the occasion of his several visits to Rome during the reigns of Adrian I. (772—795) and Leo III. (795—816). This ancient palace having fallen into decay during the twelfth century, it was rebuilt in the thirteenth by Innocent III. It was greatly enlarged by Nicholas III. (1277—1281), but the Lateran continued to be the papal residence, and the Vatican palace was only used on state occasions, and for the reception of any foreign sovereigns visiting Rome. After the return of the popes from Avignon, the Lateran palace had fallen into decay, and for the sake of the greater security afforded by the vicinity of S. Angelo, it was determined to make the pontifical residence at the Vatican, and the first conclave was held there in 1378. In order to increase its security, John XXIII. constructed the covered passage to S. Angelo in 1410. Nicholas V. (1447—1455) had the idea of making it the most magnificent palace in the world, and of uniting in it all the government offices and dwellings of the cardinals, but died before he could do more than begin the work. The building which he commenced was finished by Alexander VI., and still exists under the name of Tor di Borgia. In 1473 Sixtus IV. built the Sistine Chapel, and in 1490 "the Belvedere" was erected as a separate garden-house by Innocent VIII. from designs of Antonio da Pollajuolo. Julius II., with the aid of Bramante, united this villa to the palace by means of one vast courtyard, and erected the Loggie around the Court of St. Damasus; he also laid the foundation of the Vatican Museum in the gardens of the Belvedere. The Loggie were completed by Leo X.; the Sala Regia and the Pauline Chapel were built by Paul III. Sixtus V. divided the great court of Bramante into two by the erection of the library, and began the present residence of the popes, which was finished by Clement VIII. (1592—1605). Urban VIII. built the Scala Regia; Clement XIV. and Pius VII., the Museo Pio-Clementino; Pius VII., the Braccio Nuovo; Leo XII., the picture-gallery; Gregory XVI., the Etruscan Museum; and Pius IX., the handsome staircase leading to the court of Bramante.

The length of the Vatican palace is 1151 English feet; its breadth, 767. It has eight grand staircases, twenty courts, and is said to contain 11,000 chambers of different sizes.

(The collections in the Vatican may be visited daily with an order and at fixed hours, except on Sundays and high festivals. Permission to make drawings must be obtained from the maggiordomo.)

The principal entrance of the Vatican is at the end of the right colonnade of St. Peter's. Hence a door on the right opens upon the staircase leading to the Cortile di S. Damaso, and is the nearest way to the collections of statues and pictures.

Following the great corridor, and passing on the left the entrance to the portico of St. Peter's, we reach the Scala Regia, a magnificent work of Bernini, formerly guarded by the picturesque Swiss soldiers. Hence we enter the Sala Regia, built in the reign of Paul III. by Antonio di Sangallo, and used as a hall of audience for ambassadors. It is decorated with frescoes illustrative of the history of the popes.

ENTRANCE WALL:

Alliance of the Venetians with Paul V. against the Turks, and Battle of Lepanto, 1571: Vasari.

RIGHT WALL:

Absolution of the Emperor Henry IV., by Gregory VII.: Federigo and Taddeo Zucchero.

LEFT WALL:

Massacre of St. Bartholomew: Vasari.

OPPOSITE WALL, towards the Sala Regia:

Return of Gregory XI. from Avignon.

Benediction of Frederick Barbarossa by Alexander III., in the Piazza of S. Marco: Giuseppe Porta.

On the right is the entrance of the Pauline Chapel (Cappella Paolina), also built (1540) by Antonio di Sangallo for Paul III. Its decorations are chiefly the work of Sabbatini and F. Zucchero, but it contains two frescoes by Michael Angelo.

"Two excellent frescoes, executed by Michael Angelo on the side walls of the Pauline Chapel, are little cared for, and are so much blackened by the smoke of lamps that they are seldom mentioned. The Crucifixion of St. Peter, under the large window, is in a most unfavourable light, but is distinguished for its grand, severe composition. That on the opposite wall—the Conversion of St. Paul—is still tolerably distinct. The long train of his soldiers is seen ascending in the background. Christ, surrounded by a host of angels, bursts upon his sight from the storm-flash. Paul lies stretched on the ground—a noble and finely-developed form. His followers fly on all sides, or are struck motionless by the thunder. The arrangement of the groups is excellent, and some of the single figures are very dignified; the composition has, moreover, a principle of order and repose, which, in comparison with the Last Judgment, places this picture in a very favourable light. If there are any traces of old age to be found in these works, they are at most discoverable in the execution of details."—Kugler, p. 308.

On the left of the approach from the Scala Regia is the Sistine Chapel (Cappella Sistina), built by Bacio Pintelli in 1473 for Sixtus IV. The lower part of the walls of this wonderful chapel was formerly hung on festivals with the tapestries executed from the cartoons of Raphael; the upper portion is decorated in fresco by the great Florentine masters of the fifteenth century.

"It was intended to represent scenes from the life of Moses on one side of the chapel, and from the life of Christ on the other, so that the old law might be confronted by the new,—the type by the typified."—Lanzi.

The following is the order of the frescoes, type and anti-type together:

Over the altar—now destroyed to make way for the Last Judgment:

1. Moses in the Bulrushes: Perugino.

1. Christ in the Manger: Perugino.

(Between these was the Assumption of the Virgin, in which Pope Sixtus IV. was introduced, kneeling: Perugino.)

On the left wall, still existing:

On the right wall, still existing:

2. Moses and Zipporah on the way to Egypt, and the circumcision of their son: Luca Signorelli.

2. The Baptism of Christ: Perugino.

3. Moses killing the Egyptian, and driving away the shepherds from the well: Sandro Botticelli.

3. The Temptation of Christ: Sandro Botticelli.

4. Moses and the Israelites, after the passage of the Red Sea: Cosimo Rosselli.

4. The calling of the Apostles on the Lake of Gennesareth: Domenico Ghirlandajo.

5. Moses giving the Law from the Mount: Cosimo Rosselli.

5. Christ's Sermon on the Mount: Cosimo Rosselli.

6. The punishment of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who aspired uncalled to the priesthood: Sandro Botticelli.

6. The institution of the Christian Priesthood. Christ giving the keys to Peter: Perugino.

7. The last interview of Moses and Joshua: Luca Signorelli.

7. The Last Supper: Cosimo Rosselli.

On the entrance wall:

8. Michael bears away the body of Moses (Jude 9): Cecchino Salviati.

8. The Resurrection: Domenico Ghirlandajo, restored by Arrigo Fiamingo.

On the pillars between the windows are the figures of twenty-eight popes, by Sandro Botticelli.

"Vasari says that the two works of Luca Signorelli surpass in beauty all those which surround them,—an assertion which is at least questionable as far as regards the frescoes of Perugino; but with respect to all the rest, the superiority of Signorelli is evident, even to the most inexperienced eye. The subject of the first picture is the journey of Moses and Zipporah into Egypt: the landscape is charming, although evidently ideal; there is great depth in the aërial perspective; and in the various groups scattered over the different parts of the picture there are female forms of such beauty, that they may have afforded models to Raphael. The same graceful treatment is also perceptible in the representation of the death of Moses, the mournful details of which have given scope to the poetical imagination of the artist. The varied group to whom Moses has just read the Law for the last time, the sorrow of Joshua, who is kneeling before the man of God, the charming landscape, with the river Jordan threading its way between the mountains, which are made singularly beautiful, as if to explain the regrets of Moses when the angel announces to him that he will not enter into the promised land—all form a series of melancholy scenes perfectly in harmony with one another, the only defect being that the whole is crowded into too small a space."—Rio. Poetry of Christian Art.

The avenue of pictures is a preparation for the surpassing grandeur of the ceiling:

"The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel contains the most perfect works done by Michael Angelo in his long and active life. Here his great spirit appears in its noblest dignity, in its highest purity; here the attention is not disturbed by that arbitrary display to which his great power not unfrequently seduced him in other works. The ceiling forms a flattened arch in its section; the central portion, which is a plain surface, contains a series of large and small pictures, representing the most important events recorded in the book of Genesis—the Creation and Fall of Man, with its immediate consequences. In the large triangular compartments at the springing of the vault, are sitting figures of the prophets and sibyls, as the foretellers of the coming of the Saviour. In the soffits of the recesses between these compartments, and in the arches underneath, immediately above the windows, are the ancestors of the Virgin, the series leading the mind directly to the Saviour. The external connection of these numerous representations is formed by an architectural framework of peculiar composition, which encloses the single subjects, tends to make the principal masses conspicuous, and gives to the whole an appearance of that solidity and support so necessary, but so seldom attended to, in soffit decorations, which may be considered as if suspended. A great number of figures are also connected with the framework; those in unimportant situations are executed in the colour of stone or bronze; in the more important, in natural colours. These serve to support the architectural forms, to fill up and to connect the whole. They may be best described as the living and embodied genii of architecture. It required the unlimited power of an architect, sculptor, and painter, to conceive a structural whole of so much grandeur, to design the decorative figures with the significant repose required by the sculpturesque character, and yet to preserve their subordination to the principal subjects, and to keep the latter in the proportions and relations best adapted to the space to be filled."—Kugler, p. 301.

The pictures from the Old Testament, beginning from the altar, are:

1. The Separation of Light and Darkness.

2. The Creation of the Sun and Moon.

3. The Creation of Trees and Plants.

4. The Creation of Adam.

5. The Creation of Eve.

6. The Fall and the Expulsion from Paradise.

7. The Sacrifice of Noah.

8. The Deluge.

9. The Intoxication of Noah.

"The scenes from Genesis are the most sublime representations of these subjects;—the Creating Spirit is unveiled before us. The peculiar type which the painter has here given of the form of the Almighty Father has been frequently imitated by his followers, and even by Raphael, but has been surpassed by none. Michael Angelo has represented him in majestic flight, sweeping through the air, surrounded by genii, partly supporting, partly borne along with him, covered by his floating drapery; they are the distinct syllables, the separate virtues of his creating word. In the first (large) compartment we see him with extended hands, assigning to the sun and moon their respective paths. In the second, he awakens the first man to life. Adam lies stretched on the verge of the earth, in the act of raising himself; the Creator touches him with the point of his finger, and appears thus to endow him with feeling and life. This picture displays a wonderful depth of thought in the composition, and the utmost elevation and majesty in the general treatment and execution. The third subject is not less important, representing the Fall of Man and his Expulsion from Paradise. The tree of knowledge stands in the midst, the serpent (the upper part of the body being that of a woman) is twined around the stem; she bends down towards the guilty pair, who are in the act of plucking the forbidden fruit. The figures are nobly graceful, particularly that of Eve. Close to the serpent hovers the angel with the sword, ready to drive the fallen beings out of Paradise. In this double action, this union of two separate moments, there is something peculiarly poetic and significant: it is guilt and punishment in one picture. The sudden and lightning-like appearance of the avenging angel behind the demon of darkness has a most impressive effect."—Kugler, p. 304.

"It was the seed of Eve that was to bruise the serpent's head. Hence it is that Michael Angelo made the Creation of Eve the central subject on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. He had the good taste to suggest, and yet to avoid, that literal rendering of the biblical story which in the ruder representations borders on the grotesque, and which Milton, with all his pomp of words, could scarcely idealise."—Mrs. Jameson, Hist. of Our Lord.

The lower portion of the ceiling is divided into triangles occupied by the Prophets and Sibyls in solemn contemplation, accompanied by angels and genii. Beginning from the left of the entrance, their order is,—

1. Jonah.

2. Jeremiah.

7. Sibylla Libyca.

3. Sibylla Persica.

8. Daniel.

4. Ezekiel.

9. Sibylla Cumæa.

5. Sibylla Erythræa.

10. Isaiah.

6. Joel.

11. Sibylla Delphica.

12. Zachariah.

"The prophets and sibyls in the triangular compartments of the curved portion of the ceiling are the largest figures in the whole work; these, too, are among the most wonderful forms that modern art has called into life. They are all represented seated, employed with books or rolled manuscripts; genii stand near, or behind them. These mighty beings sit before us pensive, meditative, inquiring, or looking upwards with inspired countenances. Their forms and movements, indicated by the grand lines and masses of the drapery, are majestic and dignified. We see in them beings, who, while they feel and bear the sorrows of a corrupt and sinful world, have power to look for consolation into the secrets of the future. Yet the greatest variety prevails in the attitudes and expression—each figure is full of individuality. Zacharias is an aged man, busied in calm and circumspect investigation; Jeremiah is bowed down absorbed in thought—the thought of deep and bitter grief; Ezekiel turns with hasty movement to the genius next to him, who points upwards, with joyful expectation, &c. The sibyls are equally characteristic: the Persian—a lofty, majestic woman, very aged; the Erythræan—full of power, like the warrior goddess of wisdom; the Delphic—like Cassandra, youthfully soft and graceful, but with strength to bear the awful seriousness of revelation."—Kugler, p. 304.

"The belief of the Roman Catholic Church in the testimony of the Sibyl is shown by the well-known hymn, said to have been composed by Pope Innocent III. at the close of the thirteenth century, beginning with the verse:—

'Dies iræ, dies illa,

Solvet sæclum in favilla,

Teste David cum Sibylla.'

It may be inferred that this hymn, admitted into the liturgy of the Roman Church, gave sanction to the adoption of the Sibyls into Christian art. They are seen from this time accompanying the prophets and apostles in the cyclical decorations of the church.... But the highest honour that art has rendered to the Sibyls has been by the hand of Michael Angelo, on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Here, in the conception of a mysterious order of women, placed above and without all considerations of the graceful or the individual, the great master was peculiarly in his element. They exactly fitted his standard of art, not always sympathetic, nor comprehensible to the average human mind, of which the grand in form and the abstract in expression, were the first and last conditions. In this respect, the Sibyls on the Sistine Chapel ceiling are more Michael Angelesque than their companions the Prophets. For these, while types of the highest monumental treatment, are yet men, while the Sibyls belong to a distinct class of beings, who convey the impression of the very obscurity in which their history is wrapt—creatures who have lived far from the abodes of men, who are alike devoid of the expression of feminine sweetness, human sympathy, or sacramental beauty; who are neither Christians nor Jewesses, Witches nor Graces, yet living, grand, beautiful, and true, according to laws revealed to the great Florentine genius only. Thus their figures may be said to be unique, as the offspring of a peculiar sympathy between the master's mind and his subject. To this sympathy may be ascribed the prominence and size given them—both Prophets and Sibyls—as compared to their usual relation to the subjects they environ. They sit here in twelve throne-like niches, more like presiding deities, each wrapt in self-contemplation, than as tributary witnesses to the truth and omnipotence of Him they are intended to announce. Thus they form a gigantic framework round the subjects of the Creation, of which the birth of Eve, as the type of the Nativity, is the intentional centre. For some reason, the twelve figures are not Prophets and Sibyls alternately—there being only five Sibyls to seven Prophets—so that the Prophets come together at one angle. Books and scrolls are given indiscriminately to them.

"The Sibylla Persica, supposed to be the oldest of the sisterhood, holds the book close to her eyes, as if from dimness of sight, which fact, contradicted as it is by a frame of obviously Herculean strength, gives a mysterious intentness to the action.

"The Sibylla Libyca, of equally powerful proportions, but less closely draped, is grandly wringing herself to lift a massive volume from a height above her head on to her knees.

"The Sibylla Cumana, also aged, and with her head covered, is reading with her volume at a distance from her eyes.

"The Sibylla Delphica, with waving hair escaping from her turban, is a beautiful young being—the most human of all—gazing into vacancy or futurity. She holds a scroll.

"The Sibylla Erythræa, grand bare-headed creature, sits reading intently with crossed legs, about to turn over her book.

"The Prophets are equally grand in structure, and though, as we have said, not more than men, yet they are the only men that could well bear the juxtaposition with their stupendous female colleagues. Ezekiel, between Erythræa and Persica, has a scroll in his hand that hangs by his side, just cast down, as he turns eagerly to listen to some voice.

"Jeremiah, a magnificent figure, sits with elbow on knee, and head on hand, wrapt in the meditation appropriate to one called to utter lamentation and woe. He has neither book nor scroll.

"Jonah is also without either. His position is strained and ungraceful—looking upwards, and apparently remonstrating with the Almighty upon the destruction of the gourd, a few leaves of which are seen above him. His hands are placed together with a strange and trivial action, supposed to denote the counting on his fingers the number of days he was in the fish's belly. A formless marine monster is seen at his side.

"Daniel has a book on his lap, with one hand on it. He is young, and a piece of lion's skin seems to allude to his history."—Lady Eastlake, Hist. of Our Lord, i. 248.

In the recesses between the prophets and sibyls are a series of lovely family groups representing the Genealogy of the Virgin, and expressive of calm expectation of the future. The four corners of the ceiling contain groups illustrative of the power of the Lord displayed in the especial deliverances of his chosen people.

Near the altar are:

Right.—The deliverance of the Israelites by the brazen serpent.

Left.—The execution of Haman.

Near the entrance are:

Right.—Judith and Holofernes.

Left.—David and Goliath.

It was when Michael Angelo was already in his sixtieth year that Clement VII. formed the idea of effacing the three pictures of Perugino at the end of the chapel, and employing him to paint the vast fresco of The Last Judgment in their place. It occupied the artist for seven years, and was finished in 1541 when Paul III. was on the throne. To induce him to pursue his work with application, Paul III. went himself to his house attended by ten cardinals; "an honour," says Lanzi, "unique in the annals of art." The pope wished that the picture should be painted in oil, to which he was persuaded by Sebastian del Piombo, but Michael Angelo refused to employ anything but fresco, saying that oil-painting was work for women and for idle and lazy persons.

"In the upper half of the picture we see the Judge of the world, surrounded by the apostles and patriarchs; beyond these, on one side, are the martyrs; on the other, the saints, and a numerous host of the blessed. Above, under the two arches of the vault, two groups of angels bear the instruments of the passion. Below the Saviour another group of angels holding the book of life sound the trumpets to awaken the dead. On the right is represented the resurrection; and higher, the ascension of the blessed. On the left, hell, and the fall of the condemned, who audaciously strive to press to heaven.

"The day of wrath ('dies iræ') is before us—the day, of which the old hymn says,—

'Quantus tremor est futurus,

Quando judex est venturus

Cuncta stricte discussurus.'

The Judge turns in wrath towards the condemned and raises his right hand, with an expression of rejection and condemnation; beside him the Virgin veils herself with her drapery, and turns, with a countenance full of anguish, toward the blessed. The martyrs, on the left, hold up the instruments and proofs of their martyrdom, in accusation of those who had occasioned their temporal death: these the avenging angels drive from the gates of heaven, and fulfil the sentence pronounced against them. Trembling and anxious, the dead rise slowly, as if still fettered by the weight of an earthly nature; the pardoned ascend to the blessed; a mysterious horror pervades even their hosts—no joy, nor peace, nor blessedness, are to be found here.

"It must be admitted that the artist has laid a stress on this view of his subject, and this has produced an unfavourable effect upon the upper half of his picture. We look in vain for the glory of heaven, for beings who bear the stamp of divine holiness, and renunciation of human weakness; everywhere we meet with the expression of human passion, of human efforts. We see no choir of solemn, tranquil forms, no harmonious unity of clear, grand lines, produced by ideal draperies; instead of these, we find a confused crowd of the most varied movements, naked bodies in violent attitudes, unaccompanied by any of the characteristics made sacred by holy tradition. Christ, the principal figure of the whole, wants every attribute but that of the Judge: no expression of divine majesty reminds us that it is the Saviour who exercises this office. The upper part of the composition is in many parts heavy, notwithstanding the masterly boldness of the drawing; confused, in spite of the separation of the principal and accessory groups; capricious, notwithstanding a grand arrangement of the whole. But, granting for a moment that these defects exist, still this upper portion, as a whole, has a very impressive effect, and, at the great distance from which it is seen, some of the defects alluded to are less offensive to the eye. The lower half deserves the highest praise. In these groups, from the languid resuscitation and upraising of the pardoned, to the despair of the condemned, every variety of expression, anxiety, anguish, rage, and despair, is powerfully delineated. In the convulsive struggles of the condemned with the evil demons, the most passionate energy displays itself, and the extraordinary skill of the artist here finds its most appropriate exercise. A peculiar tragic grandeur pervades alike the beings who are given up to despair and their hellish tormentors. The representation of all that is fearful, far from being repulsive, is thus invested with that true moral dignity which is so essential a condition in the higher aims of art."—Kugler, p. 308.

"The Last Judgment is now more valuable as a school of design than as a fine painting, and it will be sought more for the study of the artist, than the delight of the amateur. Beautiful it is not—but it is sublime;—sublime in conception, and astonishing in execution. Still, I believe, there are few who do not feel that it is a labour rather than a pleasure to look at it. Its blackened surface—its dark and dingy sameness of colouring—the obscurity which hangs over it—the confusion and multitude of naked figures which compose it—their unnatural position, suspended in the air, and the sameness of form and attitude, confound and bewilder the senses. These were, perhaps, defects inseparable from the subject, although it was one admirably calculated to call forth the powers of Michael Angelo. To merit in colouring it has confessedly no pretensions, and I think it is also deficient in expression—that in the conflicting passions, hopes, fears, remorse, despair, and transport, that must agitate the breasts of so many thousands in that awful moment, there was room for powerful expression which we do not see here. But it is faded and defaced; the touches of immortal genius are lost for ever; and from what it is, we can form but a faint idea of what it was. Its defects daily become more glaring—its beauties vanish; and, could the spirit of its great author behold the mighty work upon which he spent the unremitting labour of seven years, with what grief and mortification would he gaze upon it now.

"It may be fanciful, but it seems to me that in this, and in every other of Michael Angelo's works, you may see that the ideas, beauties, and peculiar excellences of statuary, were ever present to his mind; that they are the conceptions of a sculptor embodied in painting.

" ...St. Catharine, in a green gown, and somebody else in a blue one, are supremely hideous. Paul IV., in an unfortunate fit of prudery, was seized with the resolution of whitewashing over the whole of the Last Judgment, in order to cover the scandal of a few naked female figures. With difficulty was he prevented from utterly destroying the grandest painting in the world, but he could not be dissuaded from ordering these poor women to be clothed in this unbecoming drapery. Daniele da Volterra, whom he employed in this office (in the lifetime of Michael Angelo), received, in consequence, the name of Il Braghettone (the breeches-maker)."—Eaton's Rome.

Michael Angelo avenged himself upon Messer Biagio da Cesena, master of the ceremonies, who first suggested the indelicacy of the naked figures to the pope, by introducing him in hell, as Midas, with ass's ears. When Cesena begged Paul IV. to cause this figure to be obliterated, the pope sarcastically replied, "I might have released you from purgatory, but over hell I have no power."

"Michel-Ange est extraordinaire, tandis qu'Orcagna[345] est religieux. Leurs compositions se résument dans les deux Christs qui jugent. L'un est un bourreau qui foudroie, l'autre est un monarque qui condamne en montrant la plaie sacrée de son côté pour justifier sa sentence."—Cartier, Vie du Père Angelico.

"The Apostles in Michael Angelo's Last Judgment stand on each side of the Saviour, who is not, here, Saviour and Redeemer, but inexorable Judge. They are grandly and artificially grouped, all without any drapery whatever, with forms and attitudes which recall an assemblage of Titans holding a council of war, rather than the glorified companions of Christ."—Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art, i. 179.

The Sistine Chapel is associated in the minds of all Roman sojourners with the great ceremonies of the Church, but especially with the Miserere of Passion Week.

"On Wednesday afternoon began the Miserere in the Sistine Chapel.... The old cardinals entered in their magnificent violet-coloured velvet cloaks, with their white ermine capes; and seated themselves side by side, in a great half-circle, within the barrier, whilst the priests who had carried their trains seated themselves at their feet. By the little side door of the altar the holy father now entered in his purple mantle and silver tiara. He ascended his throne. Bishops swung the vessels of incense around him, whilst young priests, in scarlet vestments, knelt, with lighted torches in their hands, before him and the high altar.

"The reading of the lessons began.[346] But it was impossible to keep the eyes fixed on the lifeless letters of the missal—they raised themselves, with the thoughts, to the vast universe which Michael Angelo had breathed forth in colours upon the ceiling and the walls. I contemplated his mighty sibyls and wondrously glorious prophets, every one of them a subject for a painting. My eyes drank in the magnificent processions, the beautiful groups of angels; they were not to me painted pictures, all stood living before me. The rich tree of knowledge, from which Eve gave the fruit to Adam: the Almighty God, who floated over the waters, not borne up by angels, as the older masters had represented him—no, the company of angels rested upon him and his fluttering garments. It is true I had seen these pictures before, but never as now had they seized upon me. My excited state of mind, the crowd of people, perhaps even the lyric of my thoughts, made me wonderfully alive to poetical impressions; and many a poet's heart has felt as mine did!

"The bold foreshortenings, the determinate force with which every figure steps forward, is amazing, and carries one quite away! It is a spiritual Sermon on the Mount in colour and form. Like Raphael, we stand in astonishment before the power of Michael Angelo. Every prophet is a Moses like that which he formed in marble. What giant forms are those which seize upon our eye and our thoughts as we enter! But, when intoxicated with this view, let us turn our eyes to the background of the chapel, whose whole wall is a high altar of art and thought. The great chaotic picture, from the floor to the roof, shows itself there like a jewel, of which all the rest is only the setting. We see there the Last Judgment.

"Christ stands in judgment upon the clouds, and the apostles and his mother stretch forth their hands beseeching for the poor human race. The dead raise the gravestones under which they have lain; blessed spirits float upwards, adoring, to God, whilst the abyss seizes its victims. Here one of the ascending spirits seeks to save his condemned brother, whom the abyss already embraces in its snaky folds. The children of despair strike their clenched fists upon their brows and sink into the depths! In bold foreshortening, float and tumble whole legions between heaven and earth. The sympathy of the angels; the expression of lovers who meet; the child that, at the sound of the trumpet, clings to the mother's breast, is so natural and beautiful, that one believes oneself to be among those who are waiting for judgment. Michael Angelo has expressed in colours what Dante saw and has sung to the generations of the earth.

"The descending sun, at that moment, threw his last beams in through the uppermost windows. Christ, and the blessed around him, were strongly lighted up; whilst the lower part, where the dead arose, and the demons thrust their boat, laden with damned, from shore, were almost in darkness.

"Just as the sun went down the last Psalm was ended, and the last light which now remained was extinguished, and the whole picture-world vanished in the gloom from before me; but, in that same moment, burst forth music and singing. That which colour had bodily revealed arose now in sound: the day of judgment, with its despair and its exultation, resounded above us.

"The father of the Church, stripped of his papal pomp, stood before the altar, and prayed to the holy cross; and upon the wings of the trumpet resounded the trembling quire, 'Populus meus, quid feci tibi!' Soft angel notes rose above the deep song, tones which ascended not from a human breast: it was not a man's nor a woman's: it belonged to the world of spirits: it was like the weeping of angels dissolved in melody."'—Anderson's Improvisatore.

"Le Miserere, c'est-à-dire, ayez pitié de nous, est un psaume composé de versets qui se chantent alternativement d'une manière très-différente. Tour-à-tour une musique céleste se fait entendre, et le verset suivant, dit en récitatif, et murmuré d'un ton sourd et presque rauque, on dirait que c'est la réponse des caractères durs aux cœurs sensibles, que c'est le réel de la vie qui vient flétrir et repousser les vœux des âmes généreuses; et quand le chœur si doux reprend, on renaît à l'espérance; mais lorsque le verset récité recommence, une sensation de froid saisit de nouveau; ce n'est pas la terreur qui la cause, mais le découragement de l'enthousiasme. Enfin le dernier morceau, plus noble et plus touchant encore que tous les autres, laisse au fond de l'âme une impression douce et pure: Dieu nous accorde cette même impression avant de mourir.

"On éteint les flambeaux; la nuit s'avance; les figures des prophètes et des sibylles apparaissent comme des fantômes enveloppés du crépuscule. Le silence est profond, la parole ferait un mal insupportable dans cet état de l'âme, où tout est intime et intérieur; et quand le dernier son s'éteint, chacun s'en va lentement et sans bruit; chacun semble craindre de rentrer dans les intérêts vulgaires de ce monde."—Mad. de Staël.

Opposite the Sistine Chapel is the entrance of the Sala Ducale, in which the popes formerly gave audience to foreign princes, and which is now used for the consistories for the admission of cardinals to the sacred college. Its decorations were chiefly executed by Bernini for Alexander VII. The landscapes are by Brill. This hall is used as a passage to the Loggie of Bramante.

The small portion of the Vatican inhabited by the pope is never seen except by those who are admitted to a special audience. The rooms of the aged pontiff are furnished with a simplicity which would be inconceivable in the abode of any other sovereign prince. It is a lonely life, as the dread of an accusation of nepotism has prevented any of the later popes from having any of their family with them, and etiquette always obliges them to dine, &c., alone. No one, whatever the difference of creed, can look upon this building inhabited by the venerable old men who have borne so important a part in the history of Christianity and of Europe, without the deepest interest.

"Je la vois cette Rome, où d'augustes vieillards,

Héritiers d'un apôtre et vainqueurs des Césars,

Souverains sans armée et conquérants sans guerre,

A leur triple couronne ont asservi la terre."

Racine.

Two hundred and fifty-five popes are reckoned from St Peter to Pio IX. inclusive. A famous prophecy of S. Malachi, first printed in 1595, is contained in a series of mottoes, one for each of the whole line of pontiffs until the end of time. Following this it will be seen that only eleven more popes are needed to exhaust the mottoes, and to close the destinies of Rome, and of the world. The later ones run thus:—

"Pius VII. Aquila Rapax.

Leo XII. Canis et coluber.

Pius VIII. Vir religiosus.

Gregory XVI. de Balneis Etruriæ.

Pius IX. Crux de cruce.

.  .  .   Lumen in cœlo.

.  .  .   Ignis ardens.

.  .  .   Religio depopulata.

. . . Fides intrepida.

. . . Pastor angelicus.

. . . Pastor et nauta.

. . . Flos florum.

. . . De medietate lunæ.

. . . De labore solis.

. . . Gloria olivæ.

In persecutione extrema sacra Romanæ Ecclesiæ sedebit PETRUS

Romanus, qui pascet oves in multis tribulationibus: quibus transactis,

civitas septicollis diruetur, et JUDEX tremendus judicabit populum."

The Cardinal Secretary of State has rooms above the pontifical apartments. His collection of antique gems is of European celebrity.

"Antonelli loge au Vatican, sur la tête du pape. Les Romains demandent, en manière du calembour, lequel est le plus haut, du pape ou d'Antonelli."—About, Question Romaine.

The entrance to the Museum of Statues (for those who do not come from the Sala Regia) is by the central door on the left of the Cortile S. Damaso, whence you ascend a staircase and follow the loggia on the first floor, covered with stuccoes and arabesques by Giovanni da Udine, to the door of

The Galleria Lapidaria, a corridor 2131 feet in length. Its sides are covered on the right with Pagan, on the left with Early Christian inscriptions. Ranged along the walls are a series of sarcophagi, cippi, and funeral altars, some of them very fine. The last door on the left of this gallery is the entrance to the Library.

Separated from this by an iron gate, which is locked, except on Mondays, but opened by a custode (fee 50 c.), is the Museo Chiaramonti; but the visitors should first enter, on the left,

The Braccio-Nuovo, built under Pius VII. in 1817, by Raphael Stern, a fine hall, 250 feet long, filled with gems of sculpture. Perhaps most worth attention are (the chefs d'œuvre being marked with an asterisk):

Right.—

5. *Caryatide.

This statue was admirably restored by Thorwaldsen. Its Greek origin is undoubted, and it is supposed to be the missing figure from the Erechtheum at Athens.

"Quand une fille des premières familles n'avait pour vêtement, comme celle-ci, qu'une chemise et par-dessus une demi-chemise; quand elle avait l'habitude de porter des vases sur sa tête, et par suite de se tenir droite; quand pour toute toilette elle retroussait ses cheveux ou les laissait tomber en boucles; quand le visage n'était pas plissé par les mille petites grâces et les mille petites préoccupations bourgeoises, une femme pouvait avoir la tranquille attitude de cette statue. Aujourd'hui il en reste un débris dans les paysannes des environs qui portent leurs corbeilles sur la tête, mais elles sont gâtées par le travail et les haillons. Le sein paraît sous la chemise; la tunique colle et visiblement n'est qu'un linge; on voit la forme de la jambe qui casse l'étoffe au genou; les pieds apparaissent nus dans les sandales. Rien ne peut rendre le sérieux naturel du visage. Certainement, si on pouvait revoir la personne réelle avec ses bras blancs, ses cheveux noirs, sous la lumière du soleil, les genoux plieraient, comme devant une déesse, de respect et de plaisir."—Taine, Voyage en Italie.

8. Commodus.

"La statue de Commode est très curieuse par le costume. Il tient à la main une lance, il a des espèces de bottes: tout cela est du chasseur, enfin il porte la tunique à manches dont parle Dion Cassius, et qui était son costume d'amphithéâtre."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 246.

9. Colossal head of a Dacian, from the Forum of Trajan.

11. Silenus and the infant Bacchus.

This is a copy from the Greek, of which there were several replicas. One, formerly in the Villa Borghese, is now at Paris. The original group is described by Pliny, who says that the name of the sculptor was lost even in his time. The greater portion of the child, the left arm and hand of Silenus, and the ivy-leaves, are restorations.

"Je pense que ce chef-d'œuvre est une imitation modifiée du Mercure nourricier de Bacchus, par Céphisodote, fils de Praxitèle."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 332.

14. *Augustus, found 1863, in the villa of Livia at Prima-Porta.

"This is, without exception, the finest portrait statue of this class in the whole collection.... The cuirass is covered with small figures, in basso-relievo, which, as works of art, are even finer than the statue itself, and merit the most careful examination. These small figures are, in their way, marvels of art, for the wonderful boldness of execution and minuteness of detail shown in them. They are almost like cameos, and yet, with all the delicacy of finish displayed, there is no mere smoothness of surface. The central group is supposed to represent the restoration to Augustus by King Phraates of the eagles taken from Crassus and Antony. Considerable traces of colour were found on this statue and are still discernible. Close examination will also show that the face and eyes were coloured."—Shakspere Wood.

17. Æsculapius.

20. Nerva? Head modern.

23. *Pudicitia. From the Villa Mattei. Head modern.

"The portrait of a noble Roman lady, much disfigured by restorations. This statue shows the neglect, by a sculptor of great ability, of that thoroughness of execution which was such a characteristic of Greek art. Compare the great beauty of the lower portion of the drapery, seen from the front, with the poverty of execution at the back."—Shakspere Wood.

"Qu'on regarde une statue toute voilée, par exemple celle de la Pudicité: il est evident que le vêtement antique n'altère pas la forme du corps, que les plis collants ou mouvants reçoivent du corps leurs formes et leurs changements, qu'on suit sans peine à travers les plis l'équilibre de toute la charpente, la rondeur de l'épaule ou de la hanche, le creux du dos."—Taine.

26. Titus. Found 1828, near the Lateran (with his daughter Julia).

27, 40, 92. Colossal busts of Medusa, from the temple of Venus at Rome.

32, 33. Fauns, sitting, from the villa of Quintilius at Tivoli.

38. Ganymede, found at Ostia; on the tree against which he leans is engraved the name of Phædimus.

39. Vase of black basalt, found on the Quirinal. It stands on a mosaic, from the Tor Marancia.

41. Faun playing on a flute, from the villa of Lucullus.

44. Wounded Amazon (both arms and legs are restorations).

"Les trois Amazones blessées de Rome ne peuvent être que des copies de la célèbre Amazone de Crésilas.... Ce Crésilas fut l'auteur du guerrier grec mourant qui selon toute apparence a inspiré le prétendu Gladiateur mourant auquel s'applique merveilleusement bien ce que dit Pline du premier."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 263.

47. Caryatide.

48. Bust of Trajan.

50. *Diana contemplating the sleeping Endymion.

53. Euripides.

"Le plus remarquable portrait d'Euripide est une belle statue au Vatican. Cette statue donne une haute idée de la sublimité de l'art tragique en Grèce.... Regardez ce poëte, combien toute sa personne a de gravité et de grandeur, rien n'avertit qu'on a devant les yeux celui qui aux yeux des juges sévères, affaiblissait l'art et le corrompait; l'attitude est simple, le visage sérieux, comme il convient à un poëte philosophe. Ce serait la plus belle statue de poëte tragique si la statue de Sophocle n'existait pas."—Ampère, iii. 572.

62. *Demosthenes, found near Frescati.

"Both hands were wanting, and the restorer has replaced them holding a roll.... They were originally placed with the fingers clasped together, and the proofs are these. An anecdote is related of an Athenian soldier, who had hidden some stolen money in the clasped hands of a statue of Demosthenes; and if you observe the lines formed by the fore-arms, from the elbows to half-way down the wrists, where the restoration commences, you will find that, continued on, they would bring the wrists very much nearer to each other than they now are in the restoration. It is possible that this is the identical statue spoken of."—Shakspere Wood.

67. *Apoxyomenos. An Athlete scraping his arm with a strigil; found 1849 in the Vicolo delle Palure in the Trastevere.

This is a replica of the celebrated bronze statue of Lysippus, and is described by Pliny, who narrates that it was brought from Greece by Agrippa to adorn the baths which he built for the people, and that Tiberius so admired it, that he carried it off to his palace, but was forced to restore it by the outcries of the populace, the next time he appeared in public.

Left.—

71. Amazon. (Arms and feet restorations by Thorwaldsen.)

77. Antonia, from Tusculum.

81. Bust of Hadrian.

83. Juno? (head, a restoration) from Hadrian's villa.

86. Fortune with a cornucopia, from Ostia.

92. Venus Anadyomena.

"La gracieuse Vénus Anadyomène, que chacun connaît, a le mérite de nous rendre une peinture perdue d'Apelles; elle en a un autre encore, c'est de nous conserver dans ce portrait—qui n'est point en buste—quelques traits de la beauté de Campaspe, d'après laquelle Apelles, dit-on, peignit sa Venus Anadyomène."—Ampère, iii. 324.

96. Bust of Marc Antony, from the Tor Sapienza.

109. *Colossal group of the Nile, found, temp. Leo X., near Sta. Maria sopra Minerva.

A Greek statue. The sixteen children clambering over it are restorations, and allude to the sixteen cubits' depth with which the river annually irrigates the country. On the plinth, the accompaniments of the river,—the ibis, crocodile, hippopotamus, &c., are represented.

111. Julia, daughter of Titus, found near the Lateran.

"Cette princesse, de la nouvelle et bourgeoise race des Flaviens, n'offre rien du noble profil et de la fière beauté des Agrippines: elle a un nez écrasé et l'air commun. La coiffure de Julie achève de la rendre disgracieuse: c'est une manière de pouf assez semblable à une éponge. Comparé aux coiffures du siècle d'Auguste, le tour de cheveux ridicule de Julie montre la décadence du goût, plus rapide dans la toilette que dans l'art."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 120.

112. Bust of Juno, called the Juno Pentini.

114. *Minerva Medica, found in the temple so called; formerly in the Giustiniani collection.

A most beautiful Greek statue, much injured by restoration.

"In the Giustiniani palace is a statue of Minerva which fills me with admiration. Winckelmann scarcely thinks anything of it, or at any rate does not give it its proper position; but I cannot praise it sufficiently. While we were gazing upon the statue, and standing a long time beside it, the wife of the custode told us that it was once a sacred image, and that the English, who are of that religion, still held it in veneration, being in the habit of kissing one of its hands, which was certainly quite white, while the rest of the statue was of a brownish colour. She added, that a lady of this religion had been there a short time before, had thrown herself on her knees, and worshipped the statue. Such a wonderful action she, as a Christian, could not behold without laughter, and fled from the room, for fear of exploding."—Goethe.

117. Claudius.

120. A replica of the Faun of Praxiteles, inferior to that at the Capitol.

"Le jeune Satyre qui tient une flûte est trop semblable à celui du Capitole pour n'être pas de même une reproduction de l'un des deux Satyres isolés de Praxitèle, son Satyre d'Athènes ou son Satyre de Mégare; on pourrait croire aussi que le Satyre à la flûte a eu pour original le Satyre de Protogène qui, bien que peint dans Rhodes assiégée, exprimait le calme le plus profond et qu'on appelait celui qui se repose (anapauomenos); on pourrait le croire, car la statue a toujours une jambe croisée sur l'autre, attitude qui, dans le langage de la sculpture antique, désigne le repos. Il ne serait pas impossible non plus que Protogène se fût inspiré de Praxitèle; mais en ce cas il n'en avait pas reproduit complétement le charme, car Apelles, tout en admirant une autre figure de Protogène, lui reprochait de manquer de grâce. Or, le Satyre à la flûte est très-gracieux; ce qui me porte à croire qu'il vient directement de Praxitèle plutôt que de Praxitèle par Protogène."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 308.

123. L. Verus. Naked statue.

126. Athlete; the discus a restoration.

129. Domitian, from the Giustiniani collection.

132. Mercury (the head a restoration by Canova), from the Villa Negroni.

Here we re-enter the Museo Chiaramonti, lined with sculptures, chiefly of inferior interest. They are arranged in thirty compartments. We may notice:

I. 6, 13. Autumn and Winter, two sarcophagi from Ostia, the latter bearing the name of Publius Elius Verus.

VIII.

r. 176. A beautiful mutilated fragment, supposed to be one of the daughters of Niobe.

r. 197. Head of Roma, from Laurentum.

XIV.

r. 352. Venus Anadyomena.

XVI.

r. 400. Tiberius, seated, found at Veii in 1811.

r. 401. Augustus, from Veii.

XVII.

r. 417. *Bust of the young Augustus, found at Ostia, 1808.

XX.

r. 494. Seated statue of Tiberius, from Piperno.

r. 495. Cupid bending his bow, a copy of a statue by Lysippus.

XXI.

r. 550, 512. Two busts of Cato.

XXIV.

r. 589. Mercury, found near the Monte di Pietà.

XXV.

r. 606. Head of Neptune, from Ostia.

XXX.

r. 732. Recumbent Hercules, from Hadrian's Villa.

At the end of this gallery is the entrance to the Giardino della Pigna (described under the Vatican Gardens). Admittance may probably be obtained from hence for a fee of 50 c. At the top of the short staircase, on the left, is the entrance of the Egyptian Museum. Here we enter the Museo Pio-Clementino, founded under Clement XIV., but chiefly due to the liberality and taste of Pius VI., in whose reign, however, most of the best statues were carried off to Paris, though they were restored to Pius VII.

In the centre of 1st Vestibule is the *Torso Belvidere, found in the baths of Caracalla, and sculptured, as is told by a Greek inscription on its base, by Apollonius, son of Nestor of Athens. It was to this statue that Michael-Angelo declared that he owed his power of representing the human form, and in his blind old age he used to be led up to it, that he might pass his hands over it, and still enjoy, through touch, the grandeur of its lines.

"And dost thou still, thou mass of breathing stone

(Thy giant limbs to night and chaos hurled),

Still sit as on the fragment of a world,

Surviving all, majestic and alone?

What tho' the Spirits of the North, that swept

Rome from the earth when in her pomp she slept,

Smote thee with fury, and thy headless trunk

Deep in the dust 'mid tower and temple sunk;

Soon to subdue mankind 'twas thine to rise,

Still, still unquelled thy glorious energies!

Aspiring minds, with thee conversing, caught

Bright revelations of the good they sought;

By thee that long-lost spell in secret given,

To draw down gods, and lift the soul to Heaven."

Rogers.

"Quelle a été l'original du torse d'Hercule, ce chef-d'œuvre que palpait de ses mains intelligentes Michel-Ange aveugle et réduit à ne plus voir que par elles? Heyne a pensé que ce pouvait être une copie en grand de l'Hercule Epitrapezios de Lysippe, mais par le style cette statue me semble antérieure à Lysippe. Cependant on lit sur le torse le nom d'Apollonios d'Athènes, fils de Nestor, et la forme des lettres ne permet pas de placer cette inscription plus haut que le dernier siècle de la République.

"Comment admettre que cette statue, aussi admirée par Winckelmann que par Michel-Ange, ce débris auquel on revient après l'éblouissement de l'Apollon du Belvidère, pour retrouver une sculpture plus mâle et plus simple, un style plus fort et plus grand; comment admettre qu'une telle statue soit l'œuvre d'un sculpteur inconnu dont Pline ne parle point, ni personne autre dans l'antiquité, et qu'elle date d'un temps si éloigné de la grande époque de Phidias, quand elle semble y tenir de si près?

" ... Pourquoi le torse du Vatican ne serait-il pas d'Alcamène, ou, si l'on veut, d'après Alcamène, par Apollonius?"—Ampère, Hist. Rome, iii. p. 360, 363.

Close by, in a niche, is the celebrated peperino *Tomb of L. Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, consul B.C. 297. It supports a bust, supposed, upon slight foundation, to be that of the poet Ennius. Inscriptions from other tombs of the Scipios are inserted in the neighbouring wall.[347]

"L'épitaphe de Scipion le Barbu semble le résumé d'une oraison funèbre; elle s'adresse aux spectateurs: 'Cornélius Scipion Barbatus, né d'un père vaillant, homme courageux et prudent, dont la beauté égalait la vertu. Il a été parmi vous consul, censeur, édile; il a pris Taurasia, Cisauna, le Samnium. Ayant soumis toute la Lucanie, il en a emmené des otages.'

"Y a-t-il rien de plus grand? Il a pris le Samnium et la Lucanie. Voilà tout.

"Ce sarcophage est un des plus curieux monuments de Rome. Par la matière, par la forme des lettres et le style de l'inscription, il vous représente la rudesse des Romains au sixième siècle. Le goût très-pur de l'architecture et des ornements vous montre l'avènement de l'art grec tombant, pour ainsi dire, en pleine sauvagerie romaine. Le tombeau de Scipion le Barbu est en pépérin, ce tuf rugueux, grisâtre, semé de taches noires. Les caractères sont irréguliers, les lignes sont loin d'être droites, le latin est antique et barbare, mais la forme et les ornements du tombeau sont grecs. Il y a là des volutes, des triglyphes, des denticules; on ne saurait rien imaginer qui fasse mieux voir la culture grecque venant surprendre et saisir la rudesse latine."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 132.

The Round Vestibule contains a fine vase of pavonazzetto.

The adjoining balcony contains a curious Wind Indicator, found (1779) near the Coliseum. Hence there is a lovely view over the city. In the garden beneath is a fountain with a curious bronze ship floating in its bason (see Vatican Gardens).

At the end of the 3rd Vestibule stands the *Statue of Meleager, with a boar's head and a dog, supposed to have been begun in Greece by some famous sculptor, and finished in Rome (the dog, &c.) by an inferior workman.

"Meleager is represented in a position of repose, leaning on his spear, the mark of the junction of which, with the plinth, is still to be seen. The want of the spear gives the statue the appearance of leaning too much to one side, but if you can imagine it replaced, you will see that the pose is perfectly and truthfully rendered. This statue was found at the commencement of the sixteenth century, outside the Porta Portese, in a vineyard close to the Tiber."—Shakspere Wood.

"Ce Méléagre du Vatican respire une grâce tranquille, et, placé entre le sublime Torse et les merveilles du Belvédère, semble être là pour attendre et pour accueillir de son air aimable et un peu mélancolique, où l'on a cru voir le signe d'une destinée qui devait être courte, l'enthousiasme du voyageur."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 515.

From the central vestibule we enter the Cortile del Belvidere, an octagonal court built by Bramante, having a fountain in the centre, and decorated with fine sarcophagi and vases, &c. From this opens, beginning from the right, the—

First Cabinet, containing the Perseus, and the two Boxers—Kreugas and Damoxenus, by Canova.

The Second Cabinet, containing *the Antinous (now called Mercury), perhaps the most beautiful statue in the world. It was found on the Esquiline near S. Martino al Monte. It has never been injured by restoration, but was broken across the ankles when found, and has been unskilfully put together.

"Je suis bien tenté de rapporter à un original de Polyclète, qui aimait les formes carrées, le Mercure du Belvédère, qui n'est pas très-svelte pour un Mercure. On a cru reconnaître que les proportions de cette statue se rapprochaient beaucoup des proportions préscrites par Polyclète. Poussin, comme Polyclète, ami des formes carrées, déclarait le Mercure, qu'on appelait alors sans motif un Antinoüs, le modèle le plus parfait des proportions du corps humain; il pourrait à ce titre remplacer jusqu'à un certain point la statue de Polyclète, appelée la règle, parcequ'elle passait pour offrir ce modèle parfait, et faisait règle à cet égard. De plus, on sait qu'un Mercure de Polyclète avait été apporté à Rome."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 267.

Third Cabinet, of *the Laocoon. This wonderful group was discovered near the Sette Sale on the Esquiline in 1506, while Michael-Angelo was at Rome. The right arm of the father is a terra-cotta restoration, and is said by Winckelmann to be the work of Bernini; the arms of the sons are additions by Agostino Cornacchini of Pistoia. There is now no doubt that the Laocoon is the group described by Pliny.

"The fame of many sculptors is less diffused, because the number employed upon great works prevented their celebrity; for there is no one artist to receive the honour of the work, and where there are more than one they cannot all obtain an equal fame. Of this the Laocoon is an example, which stands in the palace of the emperor Titus,—a work which may be considered superior to all others both in painting and statuary. The whole group,—the father, the boys, and the awful folds of the serpents,—were formed out of a single block, in accordance with a vote of the senate, by Agesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus, Rhodian sculptors of the highest merit."—Pliny, lib. xxxvi. c. 4.

"Les trois sculpteurs rhodiens qui travaillèrent ensemble au Laocoon étaient probablement un père et ses deux fils, qui exécutèrent l'un la statue du père, et les autres celles des deux fils, touchante analogie entre les auteurs et l'ouvrage.

"Les auteurs du Laocoon étaient Rhodiens, ce peuple auquel, dit Pindare, Minerve a donné de l'emporter sur tous les mortels par le travail habile de leurs mains, et dont les rues étaient garnies de figures vivantes qui semblaient marcher. Or, le grand éclat, la grande puissance de Rhodes, appartiennent surtout à l'époque qui suivit la mort d'Alexandre. Après qu'elle se fût délivrée du joug macédonien, presque toujours alliée de Rome, Rhodes fut florissante par le commerce, les armes et la liberté, jusqu'au jour on elle eut embrassé le parti de César; Cassius prit d'assaut la capitale de l'île et dépouilla ses temples de tous leurs ornements. Le coup fut mortel à la république de Rhodes, qui depuis ne s'en releva plus.

"C'est avant cette fatale époque, dans l'époque de la prospérité rhodienne, entre Alexandre et César, que se place le grand développement de l'art comme de la puissance des Rhodiens, et qu'on est conduit naturellement à placer la création d'un chef-d'œuvre tel que le Laocoon.

"Pline dit que les trois statues dont se compose le groupe étaient d'un seul morceau, et ce groupe est formé de plusieurs, on en a compté jusqu'à six. Ceci semblerait faire croire que nous n'avons qu'une copie, mais j'avoue ne pas attacher une grande importance à cette indication de Pline, compilateur plus érudit qu'observateur attentif. Michel-Ange, dit-on, remarqua le premier que le Laocoon n'était pas d'un seul morceau; Pline a très-bien pu ne pas s'en apercevoir plus que nous et répéter de confiance une assertion inexacte."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 382, 385, 387.

... "Turning to the Vatican, go see

Laocoon's torture dignifying pain—

A father's love and mortal's agony

With an immortal's patience blending, vain

The struggle; vain against the coiling strain

And gripe, and deepening of the dragon's grasp,

The old man's clench; the long envenom'd chain

Rivets the living links,—the enormous asp

Enforces pang on pang, and stifles gasp on gasp."

Childe Harold.

"The circumstance of the two sons being so much smaller than the father, has been criticised by some, but this seems to have been necessary to the harmony of the composition. The same apparent disproportion exists between Niobe and her children, in the celebrated group at Florence, supposed to be by Scopas. The raised arms of the three figures are all restorations, as are some portions of the serpents. Originally, the raised hands of the old man rested on his head, and the traces of the junction are clearly discernible. For this we have also the evidence of an antique gem, on which it is thus engraved. This work was found in the baths (?) of Titus, in the reign of Julius II., by a certain Felix de Fredis, who received half the revenue of the gabella of the Porta San Giovanni as a reward, and whose epitaph, in the church of Ara Cœli, records the fact."—Shakspere Wood.

"Il y avait dans la vie, au seizième siècle, je ne sais qu'elle excitation fébrile, quelle aspiration vers le beau, vers l'inconnu, qui disposait les esprits à l'enthousiasme.... Félix de Frédis fut gratifié d'une part dans les revenus de la porte de Saint Jean de Latran, pour avoir trouvé le groupe du Laocoon, et, lorsque l'ordre fut donné de transporter au Belvédère le Laocoon, l'Apollon, la Vénus, Rome entière s'émut, on jetait des fleurs au marbre, on battait des mains; depuis les thermes de Titus jusqu'au Vatican, le Laocoon fut porté en triomphe; et Sadolet chantait sur le mode virgilien que durent reconnaître les échos de l'Esquilin et du palais d'Auguste."—Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne.

"I felt the Laocoon very powerfully, though very quietly; an immortal agony, with a strange calmness diffused through it, so that it resembles the vast rage of the sea, calm on account of its immensity; or the tumult of Niagara, which does not seem to be tumult, because it keeps pouring on for ever and ever."

"It is a type of human beings, struggling with an inexplicable trouble, and entangled in a complication which they cannot free themselves from by their own efforts, and out of which Heaven alone can help them."—Hawthorne, Notes on Italy.

The Fourth Cabinet contains *the Apollo Belvedere, found in the sixteenth century at Porto d'Anzio (Antium), and purchased by Julius II. for the Belvedere Palace, which was at that time a garden pavilion separated from the rest of the Vatican, and used as a museum of sculpture. It is now decided that this statue, beautiful as it is, is not the original work of a Greek sculptor, but a copy, probably from the bronze of Calamides, which represented Apollo, as the defender of the city, and which was erected at Athens after the cessation of a great plague. Four famous statues of Apollo are mentioned by Pliny as existing at Rome in his time, but this is not one of them.

"Or view the Lord of the unerring bow,

The God of life, and poesy, and light—

The Sun in human limbs array'd, and brow

All radiant from his triumph in the fight;

The shaft hath just been shot—the arrow bright

With an immortal's vengeance; in his eye

And nostril beautiful disdain, and might,

And majesty flash their full lightnings by,

Developing in that one glance the Deity."

Childe Harold.

"Bright kindling with a conqueror's stem delight,

His keen eye tracks the arrow's fateful flight:

Burns his indignant cheek with vengeful fire,

And his lip quivers with insulting ire:

Firm fix'd his tread, yet light, as when on high

He walks th' impalpable and pathless sky:

The rich luxuriance of his hair, confined

In graceful ringlets, wantons on the wind,

That lifts in sport his mantle's drooping fold,

Proud to display that form of faultless mould.

Mighty Ephesian! with an eagle's flight

Thy proud soul mounted through the fields of light,

View'd the bright conclave of Heaven's blest abode,

And the cold marble leapt to life a god:

Contagious awe through breathless myriads ran,

And nations bow'd before the work of man.

For mild he seem'd, as in Elysian bowers,

Wasting in careless ease the joyous hours;

Haughty, as bards have sung, with princely sway

Curbing the fierce flame-breathing steeds of day;

Beauteous as vision seen in dreamy sleep

By holy maid on Delphi's haunted steep,

Mid the dim twilight of the laurel grove,

Too fair to worship, too divine to love."

Henry Hart Milman.

In the second portico, between Canova's statues and the Antinous, is (No. 43) a Venus and Cupid,—interesting because the Venus is a portrait of Sallustia Barbia Orbiana, wife of Alexander Severus. It was discovered in the fifteenth century, in the ruin near Sta. Croce in Gerusalemme, to which it has given a name. In the third portico, between the Antinous and the Laocoon, are two beautiful dogs. Between these we enter:

The Sala degli Animali, containing a number of representations of animals in marble and alabaster. Perhaps the best is No. 116—two greyhounds playing. The statue of Commodus on horseback (No. 139) served as a model to Bernini for his figure of Constantine in the portico of St. Peter's.

"La Salle des Animaux au Vatican est comme un musée de l'école de Myron; le naturel parfait qu'il donna à ses représentations d'animaux y éclate partout. C'est une sorte de ménagerie de l'art, et elle mérite de s'appeler, comme celle du Jardin des Plantes, une ménagerie d'animaux vivants.

"Ces animaux sont pourtant d'un mérite inégal: parmi les meilleurs morceaux on compte des chiens qui jouent ensemble avec beaucoup de vérité, un cygne dont le duvet, un mouton tué dont la toison sont très-bien rendus, une tête d'âne très-vraie et portant une couronne de lierre, allusion au rôle de l'âne de Silène dans les mystères bacchiques."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 276.

On the right we enter:

The Galleria delle Statue, once a summer-house of Innocent VIII., but arranged as a statue-gallery under Pius VI. In its lunettes are remains of frescoes by Pinturicchio. Beginning on the right, are:

248. An armed statue of Claudius Albinus standing on a cippus which marked the spot where the body of Caius Cæsar was burnt, inscribed C. CÆSAR GERMANICI CÆSARIS HIC CREMATUS EST.

250. The *Statue called "The Genius of the Vatican," supposed to be a copy from a Cupid of Praxiteles which existed in the Portico of Octavia in the time of Pliny. On the back are the holes for the metal pins which supported the wings.

251. Athlete.

253. Triton, from Tivoli.

255. Paris.

Le Vatican possède une statue de Pâris jugeant les déesses. Cette statue est-elle, comme on le pense généralement, une copie du Pâris d'Euphranor?

"Euphranor avait-il choisi le moment où Pâris juge les déesses? Les expressions de Pline pourraient en faire douter: il ne l'affirme point; il dit que dans la statue d'Euphranor on eût pu reconnaître le juge des trois déesses, l'amant d'Hélène et le vainqueur d'Achille.

*   *  *  *  *  *   *  *

"La statue du Vatican est de beaucoup la plus remarquable des statues de Pâris. On y sent, malgré ses imperfections, la présence d'un original fameux; de plus, son attitude est celle de Pâris sur plusieurs vases peints et sur plusieurs bas-reliefs, et nous verrons que les bas-reliefs reproduisaient très-souvent une statue célèbre. Il m'est impossible, il est vrai, de voir dans le Pâris du Vatican tout ce que Pline dit du Pâris d'Euphranor. Je ne puis y voir que le juge des déesses. L'expression de son visage montre qu'il a contemplé la beauté de Vénus, et que le prix va être donné. Rien n'annonce l'amant d'Hélène, ni surtout le vainqueur d'Achille; mais ce qui était dans l'original aurait pu disparaître de la copie."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 300.

256. Young Hercules.

259. Figure probably intended for Apollo, restored as Minerva.

260. A Greek relief, from a tomb.

261. Penelope, on a pedestal, with a relief of Bacchus and Ariadne.

"L'attente de Pénélope nous est présente, et, pour ainsi dire, dure encore pour nous dans cette expressive Pénélope, dont le torse nous a montré un spécimen de l'art grec sous la forme la plus ancienne."—Ampère, Hist. Rome, iii. p. 452.

264. *Apollo Sauroctonos (killing a lizard), found on the Palatine in 1777—a copy of a work of Praxiteles. Several other copies are in existence, one in bronze, in the Villa Albani, inferior to this. The right arm and the legs above the knees are restorations, well executed.

"Apollon presque enfant épie un lézard qui se glisse le long d'un arbre. On sait, à n'en pouvoir douter, d'après la description de Pline et de Martial, que cet Apollon, souvent répété, est une imitation de celui de Praxitèle, et quand on ne le saurait pas, on l'eût deviné."—Ampère, iii. 313.

265. Amazon, found in thé Villa Mattei, the finest of the three Amazons in the Vatican, which are all supposed to be copies from the fifty statues of Amazons, which decorated the temple of Diana at Ephesus.

267. Drunken Satyr.

268. Juno, from Otricoli.

271, 390. Posidippus and Menander, very fine statues, perfectly preserved, owing to their having been kept through the middle ages in the church of S. Lorenzo Pane e Perna, where they were worshipped under the belief that they were statues of saints, a belief which arose from their having metal discs over their heads, a practice which prevailed with many Greek statues intended for the open air. The marks of the metal pins for these discs may still be seen, as well as those for a bronze protection for the feet, to prevent their being worn away by the kisses of the faithful,—as on the statue of St. Peter at St Peter's.

Between these statues we enter:

The Hall of Busts. Perhaps the best are:

278. Augustus, with a wreath of corn.

289. Julia Mammæa, mother of Alexander Severus.

299. Jupiter-Serapis, in basalt.

325. Jupiter.

357. Antinous.

388. *Roman Senator and his wife, from a tomb. (These busts, having been much admired by the great historian, were copied for the monument of Niebuhr at Bonn, erected, by his former pupil the King of Prussia, to his memory—with that of his loving wife Gretchen, who only survived him nine days.)

"Les têtes de deux époux, représentés au devant de leur tombeau d'où ils semblent sortir à mi-corps et se tenant par le main, sont surtout d'une simplicité et d'une vérité inexprimable. La femme est assez jeune et assez belle, l'époux est vieux et très-laid; mais ce groupe a un air honnête et digne qui répond pour tous deux d'une vie de sérénité et de vertu. Nul récit ne pourrait aussi bien que ces deux figures transporter au sein des mœurs domestiques de Rome; en leur présence on se sent pénétré soi-même d'honnêteté, de pudeur et de respect, comme si on était assis au chaste foyer de Lucrèce."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iv. 103.

Re-entering the Gallery of Statues, and following the left wall, are:

392. Septimius Severus.

393. Girl at a spring?

394. Neptune.

395. Apollo Citharœdus.

396. Wounded Adonis.

397. Bacchus, from Hadrian's Villa.

398. Macrinus (Imp. 217).

399. Æsculapius and Hygeia, from Palestrina.

400. Euterpe.

401. Mutilated group from the Niobides, found near Porta San Paolo.

405. Danaide.

406. Copy of the Faun of Praxiteles, very beautiful, but inferior to that at the Capitol.

422. Head of a fountain, with Bacchanalian Procession.

(Here is the entrance of the Gabinetto delle Maschere, which contains works of small importance. It is named from the mosaic upon the floor, of masks from Hadrian's Villa. It is seldom shown, probably because it contains a chair of rosso-antico, called "Sedia forata," found near the Lateran, and supposed to be the famous "Sella Stercoraria" used at the installation of the mediæval popes, and associated with the legend of Pope Joan.

"Le Pape élu (Célestine III. 1191) se prosterne devant l'autel pendant que l'on chante le Te Deum: puis les Cardinaux Evêques le conduisent à son siége derrière l'autel: là ils viennent à ses pieds, et il leur donne le baiser de paix. On le mène ensuite à une chaise posée devant la portique de la Basilique du Sauveur de Latran. Cette chaise était nommée dès lors 'Stercoraria,' parceque elle est percée au fond: mais l'ouverture est petite, et les antiquaires jugent que c'étoit pour égouter l'eau, et que cette chaise servait à quelque bain."—Fleury, Histoire Ecclésiastique, xv. p. 525.)

462. Cinerary Urn of Alabaster.

414. *Sleeping Ariadne, found c. 1503—formerly supposed to represent Cleopatra.

"The effect of sleep, so remarkable in this statue, and which could not have been rendered by merely closing the lids over the eyes, is produced by giving positive form to the eyelashes; a distinct ridge, being raised at right angles to the surface of the lids, with a slight indented line along the edge to show the division."—Shakspere Wood.

"La figure est certainement idéale et n'est point un portrait; mais ce qui ne laisse aucun doute sur le nom à lui donner, c'est un bas-relief, un peu refait, il est vrai, qu'on a eu la très-heureuse idée de placer auprès d'elle.

"On y voit une femme endormie dont l'attitude est tout à fait pareille à celle de la statue, Thésée qui va s'embarquer pendant le sommeil d'Ariane, et Bacchus qui arrive pour la consoler. C'est exactement ce que l'on voyait peint dans le temple de Bacchus à Athènes.

"Cette statue, belle sans doute, mais peut-être trop vantée, doit être postérieure à l'époque d'Alexandre. Sa pose gracieuse est presque maniérée: on dirait qu'elle se regarde dormir. La disposition de la draperie est compliquée et un peu embrouillée, à tel point que les uns prennent pour une couverture ce que d'autres regardent comme un manteau."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 534.

Beneath this figure is a fine sarcophagus, representing the Battle of the Giants.

412, 413. "The Barberini Candelabra" from Hadrian's Villa.

416. Ariadne.

417. Mercury.

420. Lucius Verus—on a pedestal which supported the ashes of Drusus in the Mausoleum of Augustus.

From the centre of the Sala degli Animali we now enter:

The Sala delle Muse, adorned with sixteen Corinthian columns from Hadrian's Villa. It is chiefly filled with statues and busts from the villa of Cassius at Tivoli. The statues of the Muses and that called Apollo Musagetes (No. 516) are generally attributed to the time of the Antonines.

"Nous savons que l'Apollon Citharède de Scopas était dans le temple d'Apollon Palatin, élevé par Auguste; les médailles, Properce et Tibulle, nous apprennent que le dieu s'y voyait revêtu d'une longue robe.

'Ima videbatur talis illudere palla.'

Tib. iii. 4, 35.

'Pythius in longa carmina veste sonat.'

Prop. ii. 31, 16.

"Nous ne pouvons donc hésiter à admettre que l'Apollon de la salle des Muses au Vatican a eu pour premier original l'Apollon de Scopas.

"Nous savons aussi qu'un Apollon de Philiscus et un Apollon de Timarchide (celui-ci tenant la lyre), sculpteurs grecs moins anciens que Scopas, étaient dans un autre temple d'Apollon, près du portique d'Octavie, en compagnie des Muses, comme l'Apollon Citharède du Vatican a été trouvé avec celles qui l'entourent aujourd'hui dans la salle des Muses. Il est donc vraisemblable que cet Apollon est d'après Philiscus ou Timarchide, qui eux-mêmes avaient sans doute copié l'Apollon à la lyre de Scopas et l'avaient placé au milieu des Muses.

"Apollon est là, ainsi que plus anciennement il avait été représenté sur le coffre de Cypsélus, avec cette inscription qui conviendrait à la statue du Vatican: 'Alentour est le chœur gracieux des Muses, auquel il préside;' et, comme dit Pindare, 'au milieu du beau chœur des Muses, Apollon frappe du plectrum d'or la lyre aux sept voix."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 292.

Here we reach the Sala Rotonda, built by Pius VI., paved with a mosaic found in 1780 in the baths of Otricoli, and containing in its centre a grand porphyry vase from the baths of Titus. On either side of the entrance are colossal heads of Tragedy and Comedy, from Hadrian's Villa. Beginning from the right are:

539. *Bust of Jupiter from Otricoli—the finest extant.

540. Antinous, from Hadrian's Villa. All the drapery (probably once of bronze) is a restoration.

"Antinous was drowned in the Nile, A.D. 131. Some accounts assert that he drowned himself in obedience to an oracle, which demanded for the life of the emperor Hadrian the sacrifice of the object dearest to him. However this may be, Hadrian lamented his death with extravagant weakness, proclaimed his divinity to the jeering Egyptians, and consecrated a temple in his honour. He gave the name of Besantinopolis to a city in which he was worshipped in conjunction with an obscure divinity named Besa."—Merivale, lxvi.

541. Faustina the elder, wife of Antoninus Pius.

542. Augustus, veiled.

543. *Hadrian, found in his mausoleum.

544. *Colossal Hercules, in gilt bronze, found (1864) near the Theatre of Pompey. The feet and ankles are restorations by Tenerani.

546. *Bust of Antinous.

547. Sea-god, from Pozzuoli.

548. *Nerva.

"Among the treasures of antiquity preserved in modern Rome, none surpasses,—none perhaps equals,—in force and dignity, the sitting statue of Nerva, which draws all eyes in the rotunda of the Vatican, embodying the highest ideal of the Roman magnate, the finished warrior, statesman, and gentleman of an age of varied training and wide practical experience."—Merivale, ch. xliii.

549. Jupiter Serapis.

550. *The Barberini Juno.

551. Claudius.

552. Juno Sospita, from Lanuvium. This is the only statue in the Vatican of which we can be certain that it was a worshipped idol; the sandals of the Tyrrhenian Juno turn up at the end,—no other Juno wears these sandals.

553. Plotina, wife of Trajan.

554. Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus.

556. Pertinax.

The Sala a Croce Greca contains:

On the right.—The porphyry sarcophagus of Sta. Constantia, daughter of Constantine the Great, adorned with sculptures of a vintage, brought hither most inappropriately, from her church near St'Agnese.

On the left.—The porphyry sarcophagus of Sta. Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, carried off from her tomb (now called Torre Pignatarra) by Anastasius IV., and placed in the Lateran, whence it was brought hither by Pius VI. The restoration of its reliefs, representing battle scenes of the time of Constantine, cost £20,000.

At the end of the hall on the right is a recumbent river-god, said to have been restored by Michael Angelo. The stairs, adorned with twenty ancient columns from Palestrina, lead to:

The Sala della Biga, so called from a white marble chariot, drawn by two horses. Only the body of the chariot (which long served as an episcopal throne in the church of S. Marco) and part of the horse on the right, are ancient; the remainder is restoration. Among the sculptures here, are:

608. Bearded Bacchus.

609. An interesting sarcophagus representing a chariot-race. The chariots are driven by Amorini, who are not attending to what they are about, and drive over one another. The eggs and dolphins on the winning-posts indicated the number of times they had gone round; each time they passed another egg and dolphin were put up.

610. Bacchus, as a woman.

611. Alcibiades?

612. Veiled priest, from the Giustiniani collection.

614. Apollo Citharædus.

615. Discobolus, copy of a bronze statue by Naubides.

616. *Phocion, very remarkable and beautiful from the extreme simplicity of the drapery.

618. Discobolus, copy of the bronze statue of Myron—inferior to that at the Palazzo Massimo.

"Il n'y a pas une statue dont l'original soit connu avec plus de certitude que le Discobole. Cet original fut l'athlète lançant le disque de Myron.

"C'est bien la statue se contournant avec effort dont parle Quintilien; en effet, la statue, penchée en avant et dans l'attitude du jet, porte le corps sur une jambe, tandis que l'autre est traînante derrière lui. Ce n'est pas la main, c'est la personne tout entière qui va lancer le disque."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 270.

619. Charioteer.

Proceeding in a straight line from the top of the stairs, we enter:

The Galleria dei Candelabri, 300 feet long, filled with small pieces of sculpture. Among these we may notice in the centre, on the right, Bacchus and Silenus, found near the Sancta-Sanctorum, also:

194. Boy with a goose.

224. Nemesis.

'Une petite statue da Vatican rappelle une curieuse anecdote dont le héros est Agoracrite. Alcamène et lui avaient fait chacun une statue de Vénus. Celle d'Alcamène fut jugée la meilleure par les Athéniens. Agoracrite, indigné de ce qui lui semblait une injustice, transforma la sienne en Némésis, déesse vengeresse de l'équité violée, et le rendit aux habitants du bourg de Rhamnus, à condition qu'elle ne serait jamais exposée à Athènes. Ceci montre combien sa Vénus avait gardé la sévérité du type primitif. Ce n'est pas de la Vénus du Capitole ou de la Vénus de Médicis, qu'on aurait pu faire une Némésis. Némésis avait pour emblème la coudée, signe de la mesure que Némésis ne permet point de dépasser, et l'avant-bras était la figure de la coudée, par suite, de la mesure. C'est pourquoi quand on représentait Némésis on plaçait toujours l'avant-bras de manière d'attirer sur lui l'attention. Dans la Némésis du Vatican la donnée sévère est devenue un motif aimable. Cet avant-bras, qu'il fallait montrer pour rappeller une loi terrible, Némésis le montre en effet, mais elle s'en sert avec grâce pour rattacher son vêtement."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 260.

253. Statuette of Ceres, the head from some other statue.

Hence we enter:

The Galleria degli Arazzi (open gratis on Mondays), hung with tapestries from the New Testament History, executed for the lower walls of the Sistine Chapel, in 1515—16, for Leo X., from the cartoons of Raphael, of which seven were purchased in Flanders by Charles I., and are now at Hampton Court. The tapestries are ill arranged. According to their present order, beginning on the left wall, they are:

1. St. Peter receiving the keys. (On the border, the flight of Cardinal de' Medici from Florence in 1494, disguised as a Franciscan Monk.)

2. The Miraculous draught of Fishes.

3. The Sacrifice at Lystra.

4. St. Paul preaching at Athens.

5. The Saviour and Mary Magdalene.

6. The Supper at Emmaus.

7. The Presentation in the Temple.

8. The Adoration of the Shepherds.

9. The Ascension.

10. The Adoration of the Magi.

11. The Resurrection.

12. The Day of Pentecost.

Returning, on the right wall, are:

1. An Allegorical Composition of the Triumph of Religion (by Van Orley and other pupils of Raphael).

2. The Stoning of Stephen (on the border the return of the Cardinal de' Medici to Florence as Legate).

3. Elymas the Sorcerer (?—removed 1869—70).

4, 5, 6. Massacre of the Innocents.

7. (Smaller than the others.) Christ falling under the Cross.

8. Christ appearing to his disciples on the shore of the Lake of Galilee.

9. Peter and John healing the lame man.

10. The Conversion of St. Paul.

The Arazzi were long used as church decorations on high festivals.

"On Corpus-Christi Day I learnt the true destination of the Tapestries, when they transformed colonnades and open spaces into handsome halls and corridors: and while they placed before us the power of the most gifted of men, they gave us at the same time the happiest example of art and handicraft, each in its highest perfection, meeting for mutual completion."—Goethe.

The Library of the Vatican is shown from 12 to 3, except on Sundays and festivals, but the visitor is hurried through in a crowd by a custode, and there is no time for examination of the individual objects. The entrance is by a door on the left at the end of the Galleria Lapidaria, which leads to the museum of statues. The Papal Library was founded by the early popes at the Lateran. The Public Library was begun by Nicholas V., and greatly increased under Sixtus IV. (1475) and Sixtus V. (1588), who built the present halls for the collection. In 1623 the library was increased by the gift of the "Bibliotheca Palatina" of Heidelberg, captured by Tilly from Maximilian of Bavaria; in 1657 by the "Bibliotheca Urbinas," founded by Federigo da Montefeltro; in 1690 by the "Bibliotheca Reginensis," or "Alexandrina," which belonged to Christina of Sweden; in 1746 by the Bibliotheca Ottoboniana, purchased by the Ottobuoni pope, Alexander VIII. The number of Greek, Latin, and Oriental MSS. in the collection has been reckoned at 23,580.

The ante-chambers are hung with portraits of the Librarians;—among them, in the first room, is that of Cardinal Mezzofanti. In this room are facsimiles of the columns found in the Triopium of Herodes Atticus (see the account of the Valle Caffarelli), of which the originals are at Naples. From the second ante-chamber we enter the Great Hall, 220 feet long, decorated with frescoes by Scipione Gaetani, Cesare Nebbia, and others,—unimportant in themselves, but producing a rich general effect of colour. No books or MSS. are visible; they are all enclosed in painted cupboards, so that of a library there is no appearance whatever, and it is only disappointing to be told that in one cupboard are the MSS. of the Greek Testament of the fifth century, Virgil of the fifth, and Terence of the fourth centuries, and that another contains a Dante, with miniatures by Giulio Clovio,[348] &c. Ranged along the middle of the hall are some of the handsome presents made to Pius IX. by different foreign potentates, including the Sèvres font, in which the Prince Imperial was baptized, presented by Napoleon III., and some candelabra given by Napoleon I. to Pius VII. At the end of the hall, long corridors open out on either side. Turning to the left, the second room has two interesting frescoes—one representing St. Peter's as designed by Michael Angelo, the other the erection of the obelisk in the Piazza S. Pietro under Fontana. At the end of the third room are two ancient statues, said to represent Aristides, and Hippolytus Bishop of Porto. The fourth room is a museum of Christian antiquities, and contains, on the left, a collection of lamps and other small objects from the Catacombs; on the right, some fine ivories by Guido da Spoleto, and a Deposition from the Cross attributed to Michael Angelo. The room beyond this, painted by Raphael Mengs, is called the Stanza dei Papiri, and is adorned with papyri of the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries. The next room has an interesting collection of pictures, by early masters of the schools of Giotto, Giottino, Cimabue, and Fra Angelico. Here is a Prie Dieu, of carved oak and ivory, presented to Pius IX. by the four bishops of the province of Tours.

At the end of this room, not generally shown, is the Chapel of St. Pius V.

The Appartamenti Borgia, which are reached from hence, are only shown by a special permission, difficult to obtain. They consist of four rooms, which were built by Alexander VI., though their beautiful decorations were chiefly added by Leo X. The first room is painted by Giovanni da Udine and Pierino del Vaga, and represents the course of the planets,—Jupiter drawn by eagles, Venus by doves, Diana (the moon) by nymphs, Mars by wolves, Mercury by cocks, Apollo (the sun) by horses, Saturn by dragons. These frescoes, executed at the time Michael Angelo was painting the Last Judgment, are interesting as the last revival under Clement VII. of the pagan art so popular in the papal palace under Leo X.

The second room, painted by Pinturicchio, has beautiful lunettes of the Annunciation, Adoration of the Magi, Resurrection, Ascension, Descent of the Holy Ghost, and Assumption of the Virgin. The ceiling of the third room has paintings by Pinturicchio of the Martyrdom of St Sebastian; the Visitation of St Elizabeth; the Meeting of St Anthony with St. Paul, the first hermit; St. Catherine before Maximian; the Flight of St. Barbara; St. Julian of Nicomedia; and, over the door, the Virgin and Child. This last picture is of curious historical interest, as a relic of the libertinism of the court of Alexander VI. (Rodrigo Borgia), the "figure of the Virgin being a faithful representation of Giulia Farnese, the too celebrated Vanozza," mistress of the pope, and mother of his children, Cæsar and Lucrezia. "She held upon her knees the infant Jesus, and Alexander knelt at her feet."

The fourth room, also painted by Pinturicchio, is adorned with allegorical figures of the Arts and Sciences, and of the Cardinal Virtues.

"On the accession of the infamous Alexander VI., Pinturicchio was employed by him to paint the Appartamento Borgia, and a great number of rooms, both in the castle of S. Angelo and in the pontifical palace. The patronage of this pope was still more fatal to the arts than that of the Medici at Florence. The subjects represented in the castle of S. Angelo were drawn from the life of Alexander himself, and the portraits of his relations and friends were introduced there,—amongst others, those of his brothers, sisters, and that of the infamous Cæsar Borgia. To all acquainted with the scandalous history of this family, this representation appeared a commemoration of their various crimes, and it was impossible to regard it in any other light, when, in addition to the publicity they affected to give to these scandalous excesses, they appeared desirous of making art itself their accomplice; and by an excess of profanation hitherto unexampled in the Catholic world, Alexander VI. caused himself to be represented, in a room in the Vatican, in the costume of one of the Magi, kneeling before the holy Virgin, whose head was no other than the portrait of the beautiful Giulia Farnese ('Vanozza'), whose adventures are unfortunately too well known. We may indeed say that the walls have in this case made up for the silence of the courtiers: for on them was traced, for the benefit of contemporaries and posterity, an undeniable proof of the depravity of the age.

"At the sight of that Appartamento Borgia, which is entirely painted by Pinturicchio, we shall experience a sort of satisfaction in discovering the inferiority of this purely mercenary work, as compared with the other productions of the same artist, and we cannot but rejoice that it is so unworthy of him. Such an ignoble task was not adapted to an artist of the Umbrian school, and there is good reason to believe that, after this act of servility, Pinturicchio became disgusted with Rome, and returned to the mountains of Umbria, in search of nobler inspirations."—Rio. Poetry of Christian Art.

A door on the right of the room with the old pictures opens into a room containing a very interesting collection of ancient frescoes. On the right wall is the celebrated "Nozze Aldobrandini," found in 1606[349] in some ruins belonging to the baths of Titus near the arch of Gallienus on the Esquiline, and considered to be the finest specimen of ancient pictorial art in Rome. It was purchased at first by the Aldobrandini family, whence its name. It represents an ancient Greek ceremony, possibly the nuptials of Peleus and Thetis. There is a fine copy by Nicholas Poussin in the Doria Palace.

"S'il fait allusion à un sujet mythologique, le réel y est à côté de l'idéal, et la mythologie y est appliquée à la représentation d'un mariage ordinaire. Tout porte à y voir une peinture romaine, mais l'auteur s'était inspiré des Grecs, comme on s'en inspirait presque toujours à Rome. La nouvelle mariée, assise sur le lit nuptial et attendant son époux, a cette expression de pudeur virginale, d'embarras modeste, qui avait rendu célèbre un tableau dont le sujet était le mariage de Roxane et l'auteur Ætion, peintre grec."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iv. 127.

Opposite to this is a Race of the Cupids, from Ostia. The other frescoes in this room were found in the ruins on the Esquiline and at the Torre di Marancia.

The Etruscan Museum can be visited on application to the custode, every day except Monday, from 10 to 2. It is reached by the staircase which passes the entrance to the Gallery of Candelabra: after which one must ring at a closed door on the right.

"This magnificent collection is principally the fruit of the excavating partnership established, some twelve or fifteen years since, between the Papal government and the Campanari of Toscanella; and will render the memory of Gregory XVI., who forwarded its formation with more zeal than he ordinarily displayed, ever honoured by all interested in antiquarian science. As the excavations were made in the neighbourhood of Vulci, most of the articles are from that necropolis; yet the collection has been considerably enlarged by the addition of others previously in the possession of the government, and still more by recent acquisitions from the Etruscan cemeteries of Cervetri, Corneto, Bomarzo, Orte, Toscanella, and other sites within the Papal dominions."—Dennis.

The 1st Room—

Contains three sarcophagi of terra-cotta from Toscanella, with three life-size figures reposing upon them. Their extreme length is remarkable. The figure on the left wears a fillet, indicating priesthood. The head of the family was almost always priest or priestess. Most of the objects in terra-cotta, which have been discovered, come from Toscanella. The two horses' heads in this room, in nenfro, i.e. volcanic tufa, were found at the entrance of a tomb at Vulci.

The 2nd Room—

Is a corridor filled with cinerary urns, chiefly from Volterra, bearing recumbent figures, ludicrously stunted. The large sarcophagus on the left supports the bearded figure of a man, and is adorned with reliefs of a figure in a chariot and musicians painted red. The urns in this room are of alabaster, which is the characteristic of Volterra.

The 3rd Room—

Has in the centre a large sarcophagus of nenfro, found at Tarquinii, in 1834, supporting a reclining figure of a Lucumo, with a scroll in his hand, "recalling the monuments of the middle ages." At the sides are reliefs representing the story of Clytemnestra and Ægisthus,—the Theban brothers,—the sacrifice of Clytemnestra,—and Pyrrhus slaying the infant Astyanax. In this room is a slab with a bilingual inscription, in Latin and Umbrian, from Todi. In the comers are some curious cinerary urns shaped like houses.

The 4th Room—

Is the Chamber of Terra-cottas. In the centre is a most beautiful statue of Mercury found at Tivoli. At the sides are fragments of female figures from Vulci,—and an interesting terra-cotta urn from Toscanella, with a youth lying on a couch. "From the gash in his thigh, and the hound at his bed-side, he is usually called Adonis; but it may be merely the effigy of some young Etruscan, who met his death in the wild-boar chase."

The 5th Room—

This and the three following rooms are occupied by Vases. The vases in the 5th room are mostly small amphoræ, in the second or Archaic style, with black figures on the ground of the clay. On a column, near the window, is a Crater, or mixing-vase, from Vulci, with parti-coloured figures on a very pale ground, and in the most beautiful style of Greek art. It represents Mercury presenting the infant Bacchus to Silenus. To the left of the window is a humorous representation of the visit of Jupiter and Mercury to Alcmena, who is looking at them out of a window. In the cabinets are objects in crystal from Palestrina.

The 6th Room—

In the centre of this room are five magnificent vases. The central, from Cervetri, "is of the rare form called Holmos—a large globe-shaped bowl on a tall stand, like an enormous cup and ball;" its paintings are of wild animals. Nearest the entrance is, with three handles, "a Calpis, of the third or perfect style," from Vulci, with paintings of Apollo and six Muses. Behind this, from Vulci, is "a large Amphora of the second or Archaic style," in which hardness and severity of design are combined with most conscientious execution of detail. It represents Achilles ("Achilleos") and Ajax ("Aiantos") playing at dice, or astralagi. Achilles cries "Four!" and Ajax "Three!"—the said words, in choice Attic, issuing from their mouths. The maker's name, "Echsekias," is recorded, as well as that of "the brave Onetorides" to whom it was presented. On the other side of the vase is a family scene of "Kastor" with his horse, and "Poludeukes" playing with his dog, "Tyndareos" and "Leda" standing by. 4th, is an Amphora from Cære, representing the body of Achilles borne to Peleus and Thetis. 5th, is a Calpis from Vulci, representing the death of Hector in the arms of Minerva.

The 6th vase on the shelf of the entrance wall is the kind of amphora called a Pelice, from Cære. "Two men are represented sitting under an olive-tree, each with an amphora at his feet," and one who is measuring the oil exclaims, "O father Jupiter, would that I were rich!" On the reverse of the vase is the same pair, at a subsequent period, when the prayer has been heard, and the oil-dealer cries, "Verily, yea, verily, it hath been filled to overflowing." By the window is a Calpis, representing a boy with a hoop in one hand, and a stolen cock in the other, for which his tutor is reproving him.

The 7th Room—

Is an arched corridor. In the second niche, is a Hydria with Minerva and Hercules, from Vulci. Sixth on the line, is an Amphora from Vulci; "'Ekabe' (Hecuba) presents a goblet to her son, 'the brave Hector,'—and regards him with such intense interest, that she spills the wine as she pours it out to him. 'Priamos' stands by, leaning on his staff, looking mournfully at his son, as if presaging his fate." Many other vases in this room are of great beauty.

The 8th Room—

"Contains Cylices or Pateræ, which are more rare than the upright vases, and not inferior in beauty."

The 9th Room—

Entered from the 6th room, is the jewel room. Among the bronzes on the right, is a warrior in armour found at Todi in 1835 and a bronze couch with a raised place for the head, found in the Regulini Galassi tomb at Cervetri, where it bore the corpse of a high priest. A boy with a bulla, sitting, from Tarquinii, is "supposed to represent Tages, the mysterious boy-god, who sprung from the furrows of that site."

At the opposite end of the room is a biga or war-chariot, not Etruscan, but Roman, found in the villa of the Quintilii, near the Via Appia. Near this are some colossal fragments of bronze statues, found near Civita Vecchia. A beautiful oval Cista, with a handle formed by two swans bearing a boy and a girl, is from Vulci; and so are the braziers or censers retaining the tongs, shovel, and rake, found with them:—"the tongs are on wheels, and terminate in serpents' heads; the shovel handle ends in a swan's neck; and the rake in a human hand." Among the smaller relics are a curious bottle from Cære, with an Etruscan alphabet and spelling lesson (!) scratched upon it, and a pair of Etruscan clogs found in a tomb at Vulci.

In the centre of the room is the jewel-case of glass. The whole of the upper division and one compartment of the lower are devoted to Cervetri (Cære). All these objects are from the Regulini Galassi tomb, for all the other tombs had been rifled at an early period, except one, whence the objects were taken by Campana. The magnificent oak-wreath with the small ornaments and the large ear-rings were worn by a lady, over whom was written in Etruscan characters, "Me Larthia,"—I, the Great Lady,—evidently because at the time of her death, 3000 years ago, it was supposed that she was so very great that the memory of her name could never by any possibility perish, and that therefore it was quite unnecessary to record it. The tomb was divided, and she was walled up with precious spices (showing what the commerce of Etruria must have been) in one half of it. It was several hundred years before any one was found of sufficient dignity to occupy the other half of the great lady's tomb. Then the high priest of Etruria died, and was buried there with all his ornaments. His were the large bracelets, the fillets for the head, with the plate of gold covering the head, and a second plate of gold which covered the forehead—worn only on the most solemn occasions. This may be considered to have been the headdress of Aaron. His also was the broad plate of gold, covering the breast, reminding of the Urim and Thummim. The bronze bed on which he lay (and on which the ornaments were found lying where the body had mouldered) is preserved in another part of the room, and the great incense burner filled with precious spices which was found by his side. The three large bollas on his breast were filled with incense, whose perfume was still so strong when the tomb was opened, that those who burnt it could not remain in the room.

The ivy leaves on the ornaments denote the worship of Bacchus, a late period in Etruria: laurel denotes a victor in battle or the games.

The 10th Room—

(Entrance on right of the jewel-room), is a passage containing a number of Roman water-pipes of lead, and the bronze figure of a boy with a bird and an Etruscan inscription on his leg, from Perugia.

The 11th Room—

Is hung with paintings on canvas copied from the principal tombs of Vulci and Tarquinii. Beginning from the right, on entering, they take the following order:

From the Camera del Morto: Tarquinii.

From the Grotta delle Bighe, or Grotta Stackelberg: Tarquinii.

From the Grotta Querciola: Tarquinii

From the Grotta della Iscrizioni: Tarquinii.

From the Grotta del Triclinio, or Grotta Marzi: Tarquinii.

From the Grotta del Barone, or Grotta del Ministro: Tarquinii.

From the painted tomb at Vulci.

"All the paintings from Tarquinii are still to be seen on that site, though not in so perfect a state as they are here represented. But the tomb at Vulci is utterly destroyed."

Each of the paintings is most interesting. That of the death-bed scene proves that the Etruscans believed in the immortality of the soul. In the upper division a daughter is mounting on a stool to reach the high bed and give a last kiss to her dying father, while the son is wailing and lamenting in the background. Below, is the rejoicing spirit, freed from the trammels of the flesh.

In the scenes representing the games, the horses are painted bright red and bright blue, or black and red. These may be considered to have been the different colours of the rival parties. A number of jars for oil and wine are arranged in this room. All the black pottery is from Northern Etruria.

The 12th Room (entered from the left of the jewel room) is a very meagre and most inefficient facsimile of an ordinary Etruscan tomb. It is guarded by two lions in nenfro, found at Vulci.[350]

The Egyptian Museum is entered by a door on the left of the entrance of the Museo Pio-Clementino. It is open gratis on Mondays from 12 to 3. The collection is chiefly due to Pius VII. and Gregory XVI. The greater part is of no especial importance.

The 6th Room contains eight statues of the goddess Pasht from Carnac.

The 8th Room is occupied by Roman imitations of Egyptian statues, from the Villa Adriana.

"Ces statues sont toutes des traductions de l'art égyptien en art grec. L'alliance, la fusion de la sculpture égyptienne et de la sculpture gréco-romaine est un des traits les plus saillantes de cosmopolitisme si étranger à d'anciennes traditions nationales, et dont Adrien, par ses voyages, ses goûts, ces monuments, fut la plus éclatante manifestation.

"Sauf l'Antinoüs, les produits de cette sculpture d'imitation bien que datant d'une époque encore brillante de l'art romain, ne sauraient le disputer à leurs modèles. Pour s'en convaincre, il suffit de les comparer aux statues vraiment égyptiennes qui remplissent une salle voisine. Dans celles-ci, la réalité du détail est méprisée et sacrifiée; mais les traits fondamentaux, les linéaments essentiels de la forme sont rendus admirablement. De là un grand style, car employer l'expression la plus générale, c'est le secret de la grandeur du style, comme a dit Buffon. Cette élévation, cette sobriété du génie égyptien ne se retrouvent plus dans les imitations bâtardes du temps d'Adrien."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 197, 202.

On the right is the Nile in black marble; opposite the entrance is a colossal statue of Antinous, the favourite of Hadrian, in white marble.

"Il est naturel qu'Antinoüs, qui s'était, disait-on, précipité dans le Nil, ait été représenté sous les traits d'un dieu égyptien ... La physiognomie triste d'Antinoüs sied bien à un dieu d'Egypte, et le style grec emprunte au reflet du style égyptien une grandeur sombre."—Ampère, Emp. ii 196.

The 9th Room contains colossal Egyptian statues. On the right is the figure of the mother of Rhamses II. (Sesostris) between two lions of basalt, which were found in the Baths of Agrippa, and which long decorated the Fontana dei Termini. Upon the base of these lions is inscribed the name of the Egyptian king Nectanebo.

"Dans cette sculpture bien égyptienne, on sent déjà le souffle de l'art grec. La pose de ces lions est la pose roide et monumentale des lions à tête humaine de Louqsor; la crinière est encore de convention, mais la vie est exprimée, les muscles sont accusés avec un soin et un relief que la sculpture purement égyptienne n'a pas connus."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 198.

"Ces lions ont une expression remarquable de force et de repos; il y a quelque chose dans leur physiognomie qui n'appartient ni à l'animal ni à l'homme: ils semblent une puissance de la nature, et l'on conçoit, en les voyant, comment les dieux du paganisme pouvaient être représentés sous cet emblème."—Mad. de Staël.

In the centre of the entrance-wall are, Ptolemy-Philadelphus, and, on his left, his queen Arsinoë, of red granite. These were found in the gardens of Sallust, and were formerly preserved in the Senator's Palace.

"There is a fine collection of Egyptian antiquities in the Vatican; and the ceilings of the rooms in which they are arranged, are painted to represent a starlight sky in the desert. It may seem an odd idea, but it is very effective. The grim, half-human monsters from the temples, look more grim and monstrous underneath the deep dark blue; it sheds a strange uncertain gloomy air on everything—a mystery adapted to the objects; and you leave them, as you find them, shrouded in a solemn night."—Dickens.

The Egyptian Gallery has an egress into the Sala a Croce Greca.

The windows of the Egyptian Museum look upon the inner Garden of the Vatican, which may be reached by a door at the end of the long gallery of the Museo Chiaramonti, before ascending to the Torso. The garden which is thus entered, called Giardino della Pigna, is in fact merely the second great quadrangle of the Vatican, planted with shrubs and flowers. Several interesting relics are preserved here. In the centre is the Pedestal of the Column of Antoninus Pius, found in 1709 on the Monte Citorio. The column was a simple memorial pillar of granite, erected by the two adopted sons of the emperor, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. It was broken up to mend the obelisk of Psammeticus I. at the Monte Citorio. Among the reliefs of the pedestal is one of a winged genius guiding Antoninus and Faustina to Olympus. In the great semicircular niche of Bramante, at the end of the court-garden, is the famous Pigna, a gigantic fir-cone, which once crowned the summit of the Mausoleum of Hadrian. Thence it was first removed to the front of the old basilica of St. Peter's. In the fresco of the old St. Peter's at S. Martino al Monte, the pigna is introduced, but it is there placed in the centre of the nave, a position it never occupied. Dante saw it at St. Peter's, and compares it to a giant's head (it is eleven feet high) which he saw through the mist in the last circle of hell.

"La faccia mi parea lunga e grossa

Come la pina di S. Pietro in Roma."

On either side of the pigna are two bronze peacocks, which are said to have stood on either side the entrance of Hadrian's Mausoleum.

"Je pense qu'ils y avaient été placés en l'honneur des impératrices dont les cendres devaient s'y trouver. La paon consacré à Junon était le symbole de l'apothéose des impératrices, comme l'oiseau dédié à Jupiter celui de l'apothéose des empereurs, car le mausolée d'Adrien n'était pas pour lui seul, mais, comme avaient été le mausolée d'Auguste et le temple des Flaviens, pour toute la famille impériale."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 212.

A flight of steps leads from this court to the narrow Terrace of the Navicella, in front of the palace, so called from a bronze ship with which its fountain is decorated. The visitor should beware of the tricksome water-works upon this terrace.

Beyond the courtyard is the entrance to the larger garden, which may be reached in a carriage by those who do not wish to visit the palace on the way, by driving round through the courts at the back of St. Peter's. Formerly it was always open till 2 P.M., after which hour the pope went there to walk, or to ride upon his white mule. It is a most delightful retreat for the hot days of May and June, and before that time its woods are carpeted with wild violets and anemones. No one who has not visited them can form any idea of the beauty of these ancient groves, interspersed with fountains and statues, but otherwise left to nature, and forming a fragment of sylvan scenery quite unassociated with the English idea of a garden. They are backed by the walls of the Borgo, and a fine old tower of the time of Leo IV. The Casino del Papa, or Villa Pia,[351] built by Pius IV. in the lower and more cultivated portion of the ground, is the chef-d'œuvre of the architect, Pirro Ligorio, and is decorated with paintings by Baroccio, Zucchero, and Santi di Tito, and a set of terra-cotta reliefs collected by Agincourt and Canova. The shell decorations are pretty and curious.

During the hours which he spent daily in this villa, its founder Pius IV. enjoyed that easy and simple life for which he was far better fitted by nature than for the affairs of government; but here also he received the counsels of his nephew S. Carlo Borromeo, who, summoned to Rome in 1560, became for several succeeding years the real ruler of the state. Here he assembled around him all those who were distinguished by their virtue or talents, and held many of the meetings which received the name of Notte Vaticane—at first employed in the pursuit of philosophy and poetry, but—after the necessity of Church reform became apparent both to the pope and to S. Carlo—entirely devoted to the discussion of sacred subjects. In this villa the late popes, Pius VIII. and Gregory XVI., used frequently to give their audiences.

The sixteenth century was the golden age for the Vatican. Then the splendid court of Leo X. was the centre of artistic and literary life, and the witty and pleasure-loving pope made these gardens the scene of his banquets and concerts; and, in a circle to which ladies were admitted, as in a secular court, listened to the recitations of the poets who sprang up under his protection, beneath the shadow of its woods.

"Le Vatican était encombré, sous Leon X., d'historiens, de savants, de poëtes surtout. 'La tourbe importune des poëtes,' s'écrie Valérianus, 'le poursuit de porte en porte, tantôt sous les portiques, tantôt à la promenade, tantôt au palais, tantôt à la chambre, penetralibus in imis; elle ne respecte ni son repos, ni les graves affaires qui l'occupent aujourd'hui que l'incendie ravage le monde.' On remarquait dans cette foule: Berni, le poëte burlesque; Flaminio, le poëte élégiaque; Molza, l'enfant de Pétrarque, et Postumo, Maroni, Carteromachus, Fedra Inghirami, le savant bibliothécaire, et la grande lumière d'Arezzo, comme dit l'Arioste, l'unique Accolti. Accolti jouit pendant toute la durée du seizième siècle d'une réputation que la postérité n'a pas confirmée. On l'appelait le céleste. Lorsqu'il devait réciter ses vers, les magasins étaient fermés comme en un jour de fête, et chacun accourait pour l'entendre. Il était entouré de prélats de la première distinction; un corps de troupes suisses l'accompagnait, et l'auditoire était éclairé par des flambeaux. Un jour qu'Accolti entrait chez le pape:—Ouvrez toutes les portes, s'écria Léon, et laissez entrer la foule. Accolti récita un ternale à la Vierge, et, quand il eut fini, mille acclamations retentirent: Vive le poëte divin, vive l'incomparable Accolti! Léon était le premier à applaudir, et le duché de Nessi devenait la récompense du poëte.

"Une autre fois, c'était Paul Jove, l'homme aux ouï-dires, comme l'appelle Rabelais, qui venait lire des fragments de son histoire, et que Léon X. saluait du titre de Tite-Live italien. Il y avait dans ces éloges, dans ces encouragements donnés avec entraînement, mais avec tact, je ne sais quel souffle de vie pour l'intelligence, qui l'activait et qui lui faisait rendre au centuple les dons qu'elle avait reçus du ciel. Rome entière était devenue un musée, une académie; partout des chants, partout la science, la poésie, les beaux-arts, une sorte de volupté dans l'étude. Ici, c'est Calcagnini, qui a déjà déviné la rotation de la terre; là, Ambrogio de Pise, qui parle chaldéen et arabe; plus loin, Valérianus, que la philologie, l'archéologie, la jurisprudence revendiquent à la fois, et qui se distrait de ses doctes travaux par des poésies dignes d'Horace."—Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne, ii. 114.

The Loggie of Raphael are reached, except on Mondays, by the staircase on the left of the fountain in the Cortile S. Damaso. Two sides of the corridors on the second floor (formerly open) are decorated in stucco by Marco da Faenza and Paul Schnorr and painted by Sicciolante da Sermoneta, Tempesta, Sabbatini, and others. The third corridor, entered on the right (opened by a custode), contains the celebrated frescoes, executed by Raphael, or from the designs of Raphael, by Giulio Romano, Pierino del Vaga, Pellegrino da Modena, Francesco Penni, and Rafaello da Colle. Of the fifty-two subjects represented, forty-eight are from the Old Testament, only the four last being from the Gospel History, as an appropriate introduction to the pictures which celebrate the foundation and triumphs of the Church, in the adjoining stanze. The stucco decorations of the gallery are of exquisite beauty; especially remarkable, perhaps, are those of the windows in the first arcade, where Raphael is represented drawing,—his pupils working from his designs,—and Fame celebrating his work. The frescoes are arranged in the following order:

1st Arcade.

1. Creation of Light.[352]

2. Creation of Dry Land.

3. Creation of the Sun and Moon.

4. Creation of Animals.

—Raphael.

2nd Arcade.

1. Creation of Eve.

2. The Fall.

3. The Exile from Eden.

4. The Consequence of the Fall.

—Giulio Romano.

3rd Arcade.

1. Noah builds the Ark.

2. The Deluge.

3. The Coming forth from the Ark.

4. The Sacrifice of Noah.

—Giulio Romano.

4th Arcade.

1. Abraham and Melchizedek.

2. The Covenant of God with Abraham.

3. Abraham and the three Angels.

4. Lot's flight from Sodom.

—Francesco Penni.

5th Arcade.

1. God appears to Isaac.

2. Abimelech sees Isaac with Rebecca.

3. Isaac gives Jacob the blessing.

4. Isaac blesses Esau also.

—Francesco Penni.

6th Arcade.

1. Jacob's Ladder.

2. Jacob meets Rachel.

3. Jacob upbraids Laban.

4. The journey of Jacob.

—Pellegrino da Modena.

7th Arcade.

1. Joseph tells his dream.

2. Joseph sold into Egypt.

3. Joseph and Potiphar's wife.

4. Joseph interprets Pharaoh's dream.

—Giulio Romano.

8th Arcade.

1. The Finding of Moses.

2. Moses and the Burning Bush.

3. The Destruction of Pharaoh.

4. Moses striking the rock.

—Giulio Romano.

9th Arcade.

1. Moses receives the Tables of the Law.

2. The Worship of the Golden Calf.

3. Moses breaks the Tables.

4. Moses kneels before the Pillar of Cloud.

—Raffaello da Colle.

10th Arcade.

1. The Israelites cross the Jordan.

2. The Fall of Jericho.

3. Joshua stays the course of the Sun.

4. Joshua and Eleazer divide the Promised Land.

—Pierino del Vaga.

11th Arcade.

1. Samuel anoints David.

2. David and Goliath.

3. The Triumph of David.

4. David sees Bathsheba.

—Pierino del Vaga.

12th Arcade.

1. Zadok anoints Solomon.

2. The Judgment of Solomon.

3. The Coming of the Queen of Sheba.

4. The Building of the Temple.

—Pellegrino da Modena.

13th Arcade.

1. Adoration of the Shepherds.

2. Coming of the Magi.

3. Baptism of Christ.

4. Last Supper.

—Giulio Romano.

"From the Sistine Chapel we went to Raphael's Loggie, and I hardly venture to say that we could scarcely bear to look at them. The eye was so educated and so enlarged by those grand forms and the glorious completeness of all their parts, that it could take no pleasure in the imaginative play of arabesques, and the scenes from Scripture, beautiful as they are, had lost their charm. To see these works often alternately and to compare them at leisure and without prejudice, must be a great pleasure, but all sympathy is at first one-sided."—Goethe, Romische Briefe.

Close to the entrance of the Loggie is that of

The Stanze, three rooms decorated under Julius II. and Leo X. with frescoes by Raphael, for each of which he received 1200 ducats. These rooms are approached through,—

The Sala di Constantino, decorated under Clement VII. (Giulio di Medici) in 1523—34, after the death of Raphael, who however had prepared drawings for the frescoes, and had already executed in oil the two figures of Justice and Urbanity. The rest of the compositions, completed by his pupils, are in fresco.

"Raphaël se multiplie, il se prodigue, avec une fécondité de toutes les heures. De jeunes disciples, admirateurs de son beau génie, le servent avec amour, et sont déjà admis à l'honneur d'attacher leurs noms à quelques parties de ses magnifiques travaux. Le maître leur distribue leur tâche: à Jules Romain, le brillant coloris des vêtements et peut-être même le dessin de quelques figures; au Fattore, à Jean d'Udine, les arabesques; à frère Jean de Vérone les clairs-obscurs des portes et des lambris qui doivent compléter la décoration de ces spendides appartements. Et lui, que se réserve-t-il?—la pensée qui anime tout, le génie qui enfante et qui dirige."—Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne.

Entrance Wall.—The Address of Constantine to his troops and the vision of the Fiery Cross: Giulio Romano. On the left, St Peter between the Church and Eternity,—on the right, Clement I. (the martyr) between Moderation and Gentleness.

Right Wall.—The Battle of the Ponte Molle and the Defeat of Maxentius by Constantine, designed by Raphael, and executed by Giulio Romano. On the left is Sylvester I. between Faith and Religion, on the right Urban I. (the friend of Cecilia) between Justice and Charity.

Left Wall.—The donation of Rome by Constantine to Sylvester I. (A.D. 325), Raffaello da Colle. (The head of Sylvester was a portrait of Clement VII., the reigning pope; Count Castiglione the friend of Raphael, and Giulio Romano, are introduced amongst the attendants.) On the left, Sylvester I. with Fortitude; on the right, Gregory VII. with Strength. Wall of Egress.—The supposititious Baptism of Constantine, interesting as pourtraying the interior of the Lateran baptistery in the 15th century, by Francesco Penni, who has introduced his own portrait in a black dress and velvet cap. On left, is Damasus I. (A.D. 366—384), between Prudence and Peace; on right, Leo I. (A.D. 440—462), between Innocence and Truth. The paintings on the socles represent scenes in the life of Constantine by Giulio Romano.

The Stanza d'Eliodoro, painted in 1511—1514, shows the Church triumphant over her enemies, and the miracles by which its power has been attested. On the roof are four subjects from the Old Testament,—the Covenant with Abraham; the Sacrifice of Isaac; Jacob's dream; Moses at the burning bush.

Entrance Wall.—Heliodorus driven out of the Temple (Maccabees iii.). In the background Onias the priest is represented praying for divine interposition;—in the foreground Heliodorus, pursued by two avenging angels, is endeavouring to bear away the treasures of the Temple. Amid the group on the left is seen Julius II. in his chair of state, attended by his secretaries. One of the bearers in front is Marc-Antonio Raimondi, the engraver of Raphael's designs. The man with the inscription, 'Jo. Petro de Folicariis Cremonen,' was secretary of briefs to Pope Julius.

"Here you may almost fancy you hear the thundering approach of the heavenly warrior and the neighing of his steed; while in the different groups who are plundering the treasures of the Temple, and in those who gaze intently on the sudden consternation of Heliodorus, without being able to divine its cause, we see the expression of terror, amazement, joy, humility, and every passion to which human nature is exposed."—Lanzi.

Left Wall.—The Miracle of Bolsena. A priest at Bolsena, who refused to believe in the doctrine of transubstantiation, is convinced by the bleeding of the host. On the right kneels Julius II., with Cardinal Riario, founder of the Cancelleria. This was the last fresco executed by Raphael under Julius II.

Right Wall.—Peter delivered from prison. A fresco by Pietro della Francesca was destroyed to make room for this picture, which is said to have allusion to the liberation of Leo X., while Legate in Spain, after his capture at the battle of Ravenna. This fresco is considered especially remarkable for its four lights, those from the double representation of the angel, from the torch of the soldier, and from the moon.

Wall of Egress.—The Flight of Attila. Leo I. (with the features of Leo X.) is represented on his white mule, with his cardinals, calling upon SS. Peter and Paul, who appear in the clouds, for aid against Attila. The Coliseum is seen in the background.

The Stanza della Segnatura is so called from a judicial assembly once held here. The frescoes in this chamber are illustrative of the Virtues of Theology, Philosophy, Poetry, and Jurisprudence, who are represented on the ceiling by Raphael, in the midst of arabesques by Sodoma. The square pictures by Raphael refer:—the Fall of Man to Theology; the Study of the Globe to Philosophy; the Flaying of Marsyas to Poetry; and the Judgment of Solomon to Jurisprudence.

Entrance Wall.—"The School of Athens." Raphael consulted Ariosto as to the arrangement of its 52 figures. In the centre, on the steps of a portico, are seen Plato and Aristotle, Plato pointing to heaven, and Aristotle to earth. On the left is Socrates conversing with his pupils, amongst whom is a young warrior, probably Alcibiades. Lying upon the steps in front is Diogenes. To his left Pythagoras is writing on his knee, and near him, with ink and pen, is Empedocles. The youth in the white mantle is Francesco Maria della Rovere, nephew of Julius II. On the right, is Archimedes, drawing a geometrical problem upon the floor. The young man near him with uplifted hands is Federigo II., Duke of Mantua. Behind these are Zoroaster and Ptolemy, one with a terrestrial, the other with a celestial globe, addressing two figures which represent Raphael and his master Perugino. The drawing in brown upon the socle beneath this fresco, is by Pierino del Vaga, and represents the death of Archimedes.

Right Wall.—"Parnassus," Apollo surrounded by the Muses, on his right Homer, Virgil, and Dante. Below, on the right, Sappho, supposed to be addressing Corinna, Petrarch, Propertius, and Anacreon; on the left, Pindar and Horace, Sannazzaro, Boccaccio, and others. Beneath this, in grisaille, are,—Alexander placing the poems of Homer in the tomb of Achilles,—and Augustus preventing the burning of Virgil's Eneid.

Left Wall.—Above the window are Prudence, Fortitude, and Temperance. On the left, Justinian delivers the Pandects to Tribonian. On the right, Gregory IX. (with the features of Julius II.) delivers the Decretals to a jurist;—Cardinal de' Medici, afterwards Leo X., Cardinal Farnese, afterwards Paul III., and Cardinal del Monte, are represented near the pope. In the socle beneath is Solon addressing the people of Athens.

Wall of Egress.—"The Disputa," so called from an impression that it represents a Dispute upon the Sacrament. In the upper part of the composition the heavenly host are present;—Christ between the Virgin and St. John Baptist;—On the left, St. Peter, Adam, St. John, David, St. Stephen, and another;—On the right, St. Paul, Abraham, St. James, Moses, St. Laurence, and St. George. Below is an altar surrounded by the Latin fathers, Gregory, Jerome, Ambrose, and Augustine. Near St. Augustine stand St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Anacletus with the palm of a martyr, and Cardinal Buonaventura reading. Those in front are Innocent III., and in the background Dante, near whom a monk in a black hood is pointed out as Savonarola. The Dominican on the extreme left is supposed to be Fra Angelico. The other figures are uncertain.

"Raphaël a bien jugé Dante en plaçant parmi les Théologiens, dans la Dispute du Saint Sacrement, celui pour la tombe duquel a été écrit ce vers, aussi vrai qu'il est plat:

'Theologus Dantes, nullius dogmatis expers.'"

Ampère, Voyage Dantesque.

The chiaro-scuros on the socle beneath this fresco are by Pierino del Vaga (added under Paul III.) and represent, 1, A heathen sacrifice; 2, St. Augustine finding a child attempting to drain the sea; 3, The Cumæ Sibyl and Augustus.

"Raphael commenced his work in the Vatican by painting the ceiling and the four walls of the room called della Segnatura, on the surface of which he had to represent four great compositions, which embraced the principal divisions of the encyclopædia of that period; namely, Theology, Philosophy, Poetry, and Jurisprudence.

"It will be conceived, that to an artist imbued with the traditions of the Umbrian school, the first of these subjects was an unparalleled piece of good fortune; and Raphael, long familiar with the allegorical treatment of religious compositions, turned it here to the most admirable account; and, not content with the suggestions of his own genius, he availed himself of all the instruction he could derive from the intelligence of others. From these combined inspirations resulted, to the eternal glory of the Catholic faith and of Christian art, a composition without a rival in the history of painting, and we may also add without a name; for to call it lyric or epic is not enough, unless, indeed, we mean, by using these expressions, to compare it with the allegorical epic of Dante, alone worthy to be ranked with this marvellous production of the pencil of Raphael.

"And let no one consider this praise as idle and groundless, for it is Raphael himself who forces the comparison upon us, by placing the figure of Dante among the favourite sons of the Muses; and, what is still more striking, by draping the allegorical figure of Theology in the very colours in which Dante has represented Beatrice; namely, the white veil, the red tunic, and the green mantle, while on her head he has placed the olive crown.

"Of the four allegorical figures which occupy the compartments of the ceiling, and which were all painted immediately after Raphael's arrival in Rome, Theology and Poetry are incontestably the most remarkable. The latter would be easily distinguished by the calm inspiration of her glance, even were she without her wings, her starry crown, and her azure robe, all having allusion to the elevated region towards which it is her privilege to soar. The figure of Theology is quite as admirably suited to the subject she personifies; she points to the upper part of the grand composition, which takes its name from her, and in which the artist has provided inexhaustible food for the sagacity and enthusiasm of the spectator.

"This work consists of two grand divisions,—Heaven and Earth,—which are united to one another by that mystical bond, the Sacrament of the Eucharist. The personages whom the Church has most honoured for learning and holiness are ranged in picturesque and animated groups on either side of the altar, on which the consecrated wafer is exposed. St. Augustine dictates his thoughts to one of his disciples; St. Gregory, in his pontifical robes, seems absorbed in the contemplation of celestial glory; St. Ambrose, in a slightly different attitude, appears to be chaunting the Te Deum; while St. Jerome, seated, rests his hands on a large book, which he holds on his knees. Pietro Lombardo, Duns Scotus, St. Thomas Aquinas, Pope Anacletus, St. Buonaventura, and Innocent III. are no less happily characterised; while, behind all these illustrious men, whom the Church and succeeding generations have agreed to honour, Raphael has ventured to introduce Dante with his laurel crown, and, with still greater boldness, the monk Savonarola, publicly burnt ten years before as a heretic.

"In the glory, which forms the upper part of the picture, the Three Persons of the Trinity are represented, surrounded by patriarchs, apostles, and saints: it may, in fact, be considered in some sort as a resumé of all the favourite compositions produced during the last hundred years by the Umbrian school. A great number of the types, and particularly those of Christ and the Virgin, are to be found in the earlier works of Raphael himself. The Umbrian artists, from having so long exclusively employed themselves on mystical subjects, had certainly attained to a marvellous perfection in the representation of celestial beatitude, and of those ineffable things of which it has been said that the heart of man cannot conceive them, far less, therefore, the pencil of man pourtray; and Raphael, surpassing them in all, and even in this instance while surpassing himself, appears to have fixed the limits, beyond which Christian art, properly so called, has never since been able to advance."—Rio. Poetry of Christian Art.

The Stanza of the Incendio del Borgo is decorated with frescoes illustrative of the triumphs of the Church from events in the reigns of Leo III. and Leo IV. The roof has four frescoes by Perugino illustrative of the Saviour in glory.

Entrance Wall.—The Victory of Leo IV. over the Saracens at Ostia, by Giovanni da Udine, from designs of Raphael. The pope is represented with the features of Leo X.; behind him are Cardinal Giulio de' Medici (Clement VII.), Cardinal Bibbiena, and others. The castle of Ostia is seen in the background. Beneath are Ferdinand the Catholic and the Emperor Lothaire, by Polidoro da Caravaggio.

Left Wall.—The "Incendio del Borgo," a fire in the Leonine City in 847. In the background Leo IV. is seen in the portico of the old St. Peter's arresting with a cross the progress of the flames, on their approach to the basilica. In the foreground is a group of fugitives, by Giulio Romano, resembling Æneas escaping from Troy with Anchises, followed by Ascanius and Creusa. Beneath are Godfrey de Bouillon and Astulf (Ethelwolf), the latter with the inscription: "Astulphus Rex sub Leone IV. Pont. Britanniam Beato Petro vectigalem fecit."

Right Wall.—The Justification of Leo III. before Charlemagne, by Pierino del Vaga. The pope is a portrait of Leo X., the emperor of Francis I.

Wall of Egress.—The Coronation of Charlemagne in the old St. Peter's. Leo X. is again represented as Leo III., and Francis I. as Charlemagne. This fresco is partly by Raphael, partly by Pierino del Vaga. On the socle is Charlemagne, by Polidoro da Caravaggio.

A Fifth Chamber has been decorated under Pius IX. with frescoes by Fracassini, in honour of the recent dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The Proclamation of the Dogma; the Adoration of the image of the Virgin; and the Reception of the news by the Virgin in heaven, from an angelic messenger, are duly represented!

From the corner of the Sala del Constantino, a custode, if requested, will give access to the

Cappella di San Lorenzo, a tiny chapel covered with frescoes executed by Fra Angelico for Nicholas V. in 1447. The upper series represents events in the life of St. Stephen.

1. His Ordination by St. Peter.

2. His Almsgiving.

3. His Preaching.

4. He is brought before the Council at Jerusalem ("his accuser has the dress and shaven crown of a monk").

5. He is dragged to Execution.

6. He is Stoned. Saul is among the spectators.

"Angelico has represented St. Stephen as a young man, beardless, and with a most mild and candid expression. His dress is the deacon's habit, of a vivid blue."—Mrs. Jameson.

The lower series represents the life of St Laurence.

1. He is ordained by Sixtus II. (with the features of Nicholas V.).

2. Sixtus II. delivers the treasures of the Church to him for distribution among the poor.

3. He Distributes them in Alms.

4. He is carried before Decius the Prefect.

5. He suffers Martyrdom A.D. 253.

Introduced in the side arches, are the figures of St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Gregory, St. John Chrysostom, St. Athanasius, St. Leo—as the protector of Rome, and St. Thomas Aquinas—as painted by the Dominican Angelico, and for a Dominican pope Nicholas V.

"The Consecration of St. Stephen, the Distribution of Alms, and, above all, his Preaching, are three pictures as perfect of their kind as any that have been produced by the greatest masters, and it would be difficult to imagine a group more happily conceived as to arrangement, or more graceful in form and attitude, than that of the seated females listening to the holy preacher; and if the furious fanaticism of the executioners, who stone him to death, is not expressed with all the energy we could desire, this may be attributed to a glorious incapacity in this angelic imagination, too exclusively occupied with love and ecstasy to be ever able to familiarise itself with those dramatic scenes in which hateful and violent passions were to be represented."—Rio. Poetry of Christian Art.

"The soul of Angelico lives in perpetual peace. Not seclusion from the world. No shutting out of the world is needful for him. There is nothing to shut out. Envy, lust, contention, discourtesy, are to him as though they were not; and the cloister walls of Fiesole no penitential solitude, barred from the stir and joy of life, but a possessed land of tender blessing, guarded from the entrance of all but holiest sorrow. The little cell was as one of the houses of heaven prepared for him by his Master. What need had it to be elsewhere? Was not the Val d'Arno, with its olive woods in white blossom, paradise enough for a poor monk? Or could Christ be indeed in heaven more than here? Was He not always with him? Could he breathe or see, but that Christ breathed beside him, or looked into his eyes? Under every cypress avenue the angels walked; he had seen their white robes,—whiter than the dawn,—at his bedside, as he woke in early summer. They had sung with him, one on each side, when his voice failed for joy at sweet vesper and matin time; his eyes were blinded by their wings in the sunset, when it sank behind the hills of Luni."—Ruskin's Modern Painters.

The same staircase which is usually ascended to reach the Stanze (that on the left of the fountain in the Cortile S. Damaso) will also lead, by turning to the left in the loggia of the third floor, to:

The Gallery of Pictures, founded by Pius VII., who acted on the advice of Cardinal Gonsalvi and of Canova, and formed the present collection from the pictures which had been carried off by the French from the Roman churches, upon their restoration. The pictures have, to a great extent, been recently rearranged and are not all numbered. Each picture is worthy of separate examination. They are contained in four rooms, and according to their present position are:

1st Room.—

ENTRANCE WALL:

1. St. Jerome: Leonardo da Vinci, painted in bistre.

16. St. John Baptist: Guercino.

4. The Annunciation, Adoration of the Magi, and Presentation in the Temple: Raphael;—formerly a predella to the Coronation of the Virgin in the third room.

5. The dead Christ and Mary Magdalen: Andrea Mantegna,—from the Aldrovandi gallery at Bologna.

7. Madonna with the Child and St. John: Fr. Francia.

RIGHT WALL:

The Story of St. Nicolo of Bari: Fra Angelico da Fiesole,—two out of the three predella pictures once in the sacristy of S. Domenico at Florence, whence they were carried off to Paris, where the third remains.

(Above,) The Adoration of the Shepherds: Murillo.

The Virgin surrounded by Angels: Fra Angelico.

3. The Story of St. Hyacinth: Benozzo Gozzoli.

(Above,) The Marriage of St. Catherine: Murillo.

2. "I Tre Santi:" Perugino.

Part of a large predella in the church of S. Pietro Casinensi at Perugia. Several saints from this predella still remain in the sacristy of S. Pietro; two are at Lyons.

"In the centre is St. Benedict, with his black cowl over his head and long parted beard, the book in one hand, and the asperge in the other. On one side, St. Placidus, young, and with a mild, candid expression, black habit and shaven crown. On the other side is St. Flavia (or St. Catherine?), crowned as a martyr, holding her palm, and gazing upward with a divine expression."—Mrs. Jameson.

(Above this) The Holy Family and Saints: Bonifasio.

Left Wall.—The Dead Christ, with the Virgin, St. John, and the Magdalen lamenting: Carlo Crivelli.

Wall of Egress.—Faith, Hope, and Charity, Raphael:—circular medallions in bistre, which once formed a predella for "the Entombment" in the Borghese gallery.

2nd Room.—

Entrance Wall.—The Communion of St. Jerome: Domenichino. This is the master-piece of the master, and perhaps second only to the Transfiguration. It was painted for the monks of Ara Cœli, who quarrelled with the artist, and shut up the picture. Afterwards they commissioned Poussin to paint an altar-piece for their church, and, instead of supplying him with fresh canvas, produced the picture of Domenichino, and desired him to paint over it. Poussin indignantly threw up his engagement, and made known the existence of the picture, which was afterwards preserved in the church of S. Girolamo della Carità, whence it was carried off by the French. St. Jerome, dying at Bethlehem, is represented receiving the Last Sacraments from St. Ephraim of Syria, while St. Paula kneels by his side.

"The Last Communion of St. Jerome is the subject of one of the most celebrated pictures in the world,—the St. Jerome of Domenichino, which has been thought worthy of being placed opposite to the Transfiguration of Raphael, in the Vatican. The aged saint,—feeble, emaciated, dying,—is borne in the arms of his disciples to the chapel of his monastery, and placed within the porch.[353] A young priest sustains him; St. Paula, kneeling, kisses one of his thin bony hands; the saint fixes his eager eyes on the countenance of the priest, who is about to administer the Sacrament,—a noble, dignified figure in a rich ecclesiastical dress; a deacon holds the cup, and an attendant priest the book; the lion droops his head with an expression of grief;[354] the eyes and attention of all are on the dying saint, while four angels, hovering above, look down upon the scene."—Jameson's Sacred Art.

"And Jerome's death (A.D. 420) drawing near, he commanded that he should be laid on the bare ground and covered with sackcloth, and calling the brethren around him, he spake sweetly to them, and exhorted them in many holy words, and appointed Eusebius to be their abbot in his room. And then, with tears, he received the blessed Eucharist, and sinking backwards again on the earth, his hands crossed on his heart, he sung the 'Nunc Dimittis,' which being finished, it being the hour of compline, suddenly a great light, as of the noonday sun, shone round about him, within which light angels innumerable were seen by the bystanders, in shifting motion, like sparks among the dry reeds. And the voice of the Saviour was heard, inviting him to heaven, and the holy Doctor answered that he was ready. And after an hour, that light departed, and Jerome's spirit with it."—Lord Lindsay, from Peter de Natalibus.

Right Wall.—"The Madonna di Foligno," Raphael, ordered in 1511 by Sigismondo Conti for the church of Ara Cœli (where he is buried), and removed in 1565 to Foligno, when his great-niece, Anna Conti, took the veil there at the convent of St' Anna. The angel in the foreground bears a tablet, with the names of the painter and donor, and the date 1512. The city of Foligno is seen in the background, with a falling bomb, from which one may believe that the picture was a votive offering from Sigismondo for an escape during a siege. The picture was originally on panel, and was transferred to canvas at Paris.

"The Madonna di Foligno, however beautiful in the whole arrangement, however excellent in the execution of separate parts, appears to belong to a transition state of development. There is something of the ecstatic enthusiasm which has produced such peculiar conceptions and treatment of religious subjects in other artists—Correggio, for example—and which, so far from harmonizing with the unaffected serene grace of Raphael, has in this instance led to some serious defects. This remark is particularly applicable to the figures of St. John and St. Francis: the former looks out of the picture with a fantastic action, and the drawing of his arm is even considerably mannered. St. Francis has an expression of fanatical ecstasy, and his countenance is strikingly weak in the painting (composed of reddish, yellowish, and grey tones, which cannot be wholly ascribed to their restorer). Again, St. Jerome looks up with a sort of fretful expression, in which it is difficult to recognise, as some do, a mournful resignation; there is also an exaggerated style of drawing in the eyes, which sometimes gives a sharpness to the expression of Raphael's figures, and appears very marked in some of his other pictures. Lastly, the Madonna and the Child, who turn to the donor, are in attitudes which, however graceful, are not perhaps sufficiently tranquil for the majesty of the queen of heaven. The expression of the Madonna's countenance is extremely sweet, but with more of the character of a mere woman than of a glorified being. The figure of the donor, on the other hand, is excellent, with an expression of sincerity and truth; the angel with the tablet is of unspeakable intensity and exquisite beauty—one of the most marvellous figures that Raphael has created."—Kugler.

"In the upper part of the composition sits the Virgin in heavenly glory; by her side is the Infant Christ, partly sustained by his mother's veil, which is drawn round his body: both look down benignly on the votary, Sigismund Conti, who, kneeling below, gazes up with an expression of the most intense gratitude and devotion. It is a portrait from the life, and certainly one of the finest and most life-like that exist in painting. Behind him stands St. Jerome, who, placing his hand upon the head of the votary, seems to present him to his celestial protectress. On the other side, John the Baptist, the meagre wild-looking prophet of the desert, points upward to the Redeemer. More in front kneels St. Francis, who, while he looks up to heaven with trusting and imploring love, extends his right hand towards the worshippers supposed to be assembled in the church, recommending them also to the protecting grace of the Virgin. In the centre of the picture, dividing these two groups, stands a lovely angel-boy, holding in his hand a tablet, one of the most charming figures of this kind Raphael ever painted; the head, looking up, has that sublime, yet perfectly childish grace, which strikes one in those awful angel-boys in the 'Madonna di San Sisto.' The background is a landscape, in which appears the city of Foligno at a distance; it is overshadowed by a storm-cloud, and a meteor is seen falling; but above these bends a rainbow, pledge of peace and safety. The whole picture glows throughout with life and beauty, hallowed by that profound religious sentiment which suggested the offering, and which the sympathetic artist seems to have caught from the grateful donor. It was dedicated in the church of the Ara Cœli at Rome, which belongs to the Franciscans, hence St. Francis is one of the principal figures. When I was asked, at Rome, why St. Jerome had been introduced into the picture, I thought it might be thus accounted for:—The patron saint of the donor, St. Sigismund, was a king and warrior, and Conti might possibly think it did not accord with his profession, as a humble ecclesiastic, to introduce him here. The most celebrated convent of the Jeronymites in Italy is that of St. Sigismund, near Cremona, placed under the special protection of St. Jerome, who is also in a general sense the patron of all ecclesiastics; hence, perhaps, he figures here as the protector of Sigismund Conti."—Jameson's Legends of the Madonna, p. 103.

Wall of Egress.—"The Transfiguration:" Raphael. The grandest picture in the world. It was originally painted by order of Cardinal Giulio de' Medici (afterwards Clement VII.) Archbishop of Narbonne, for that provincial cathedral. But it was scarcely finished when Raphael died, and it hung over his death-bed as he lay in state, and was carried in his funeral procession.

"And when all beheld

Him where he lay, how changed from yesterday—

Him in that hour cut off, and at his head

His last great work; when, entering in, they look'd,

Now on the dead, then on that masterpiece—

Now on his face, lifeless and colourless,

Then on those forms divine that lived and breathed,

And would live on for ages—all were moved,

And sighs burst forth and loudest lamentations."

Rogers.

The three following quotations may perhaps represent the practical, æsthetical, and spiritual aspects of the picture.

"It is somewhat strange to see the whole picture of the Transfiguration—including the three apostles, prostrate on the mount, shading their dazzled senses from the insufferable brightness—occupying only a small part of the top of the canvas, and the principal field filled with a totally distinct and certainly unequalled picture—that of the demoniac boy, whom our Saviour cured on coming down from the mount, after his transfiguration. This was done in compliance with the orders of the monks of S. Pietro in Montorio, for which church it was painted. It was the universal custom of the age—the yet unbanished taste of Gothic days—to have two pictures, a celestial and a terrestrial one, wholly unconnected with each other; accordingly, we see few, even of the finest paintings, in which there is not a heavenly subject above and an earthly below—for the great masters of that day, like our own Shakspeare, were compelled to suit their works to the taste of their employers."—Eaton's Rome.

"It must ever be matter of wonder that any one can have doubted of the grand unity of such a conception as this. In the absence of the Lord, the disconsolate parents bring a possessed boy to the disciples of the Holy One. They seem to have been making attempts to cast out the Evil Spirit; one has opened a book, to see whether by chance any spell were contained in it which might be successful against this plague, but in vain. At this moment appears He who alone has the power, and appears transfigured in glory. They remember His former mighty deeds; they instantly point aloft to the vision as the only source of healing. How can the upper and lower parts be separated? Both are one; beneath is Suffering craving for Aid; above is active Power and helpful Grace. Both refer to one another; both work in one another. Those who, in our dispute over the picture, thought with me, confirmed their view by this consideration: Raffaelle, they said, was ever distinguished by the exquisite propriety of his conceptions. And is it likely that this painter, thus gifted by God, and everywhere recognisable by the excellence of this His gift, would in the full ripeness of his powers have thought and painted wrongly? Not so; he is, as nature is, ever right, and then most deeply and truly right when we least suspect it."—Goethe's Werke, iii. p. 33.

"In looking at the Transfiguration we must bear in mind that it is not an historical but a devotional picture,—that the intention of the painter was not to represent a scene, but to excite religious feelings by expressing, so far as painting might do it, a very sublime idea.

"If we remove to a certain distance from the picture, so that the forms shall become vague, indistinct, and only the masses of colour and the light and shade perfectly distinguishable, we shall see that the picture is indeed divided as if horizontally, the upper half being all light, and the lower half comparatively all dark. As we approach nearer, step by step, we behold above, the radiant figure of the Saviour floating in mid-air, with arms outspread, garments of transparent light, glorified visage upturned as if in rapture, and the hair lifted and scattered as I have seen it in persons under the influence of electricity. On the right, Moses; on the left, Elijah; representing respectively the old Law and the old Prophecies, which both testified of Him. The three disciples lie on the ground, terror-struck, dazzled. There is a sort of eminence or platform, but no perspective, no attempt at real locality, for the scene is revealed as in a vision, and the same soft transparent light envelopes the whole. This is the spiritual life, raised far above the earth, but not yet in heaven. Below is seen the earthly light, poor humanity struggling helplessly with pain, infirmity, and death. The father brings his son, the possessed, or as we should now say, the epileptic boy, who oftentimes falls into the water, or into the fire, or lies grovelling on the earth, foaming and gnashing his teeth; the boy struggles in his arms,—the rolling eyes, the distorted features, the spasmodic limbs, are at once terrible and pitiful to look on.

"Such is the profound, the heart-moving significance of this wonderful picture. It is, in truth, a fearful approximation of the most opposite things; the mournful helplessness, suffering, and degradation of human nature, the unavailing pity, are placed in immediate contrast with spiritual light, life, hope,—nay, the very fruition of heavenly rapture.

"It has been asked, who are the two figures, the two saintly deacons, who stand on each side of the upper group, and what have they to do with the mystery above, or the sorrow below? Their presence shows that the whole was conceived as a vision, or a poem. The two saints are St. Laurence and St. Julian, placed there at the request of the Cardinal de' Medici, for whom the picture was painted, to be offered by him as an act of devotion as well as munificence to his new bishopric; and these two figures commemorate in a poetical way, not unusual at the time, his father, Lorenzo, and his uncle, Giuliano de' Medici. They would be better away; but Raphael, in consenting to the wish of his patron that they should be introduced, left no doubt of the significance of the whole composition, that it is placed before worshippers as a revelation of the double life of earthly suffering and spiritual faith, as an excitement to religious contemplation and religious hope.

"In the Gospel, the Transfiguration of Our Lord is first described, then the gathering of the people and the appeal of the father in behalf of his afflicted son. They appear to have been simultaneous; but painting only could have placed them before our eyes, at the same moment, in all their suggestive contrast. It will be said that in the brief record of the Evangelist, this contrast is nowhere indicated, but the painter found it there and was right to use it,—just the same as if a man should choose a text from which to preach a sermon, and, in doing so, should evolve from the inspired words many teachings, many deep reasonings, besides those most obvious and apparent.

"But, after we have prepared ourselves to understand and to take into our heads all that this wonderful picture can suggest, considered as an emanation of the mind, we find that it has other interests for us, considered merely as a work of art. It was the last picture which came from Raphael's hand; he was painting on it when he was seized with his last illness. He had completed all the upper part of the composition, all the ethereal vision, but the lower part of it was still unfinished, and in this state the picture was hung over his bier; when, after his death, he was laid out in his painting-room, and all his pupils and friends, and the people of Rome, came to look upon him for the last time; and when those who stood round raised their eyes to the Transfiguration, and then bent them on the lifeless form extended beneath it, 'every heart was like to burst with grief (faceva scoppiare l'anima di dolore a ognuno che quivi guardava), as, indeed, well it might.

"Two-thirds of the price of the picture, 655 'ducati di camera,' had already been paid by the Cardinal de' Medici, and, in the following year, that part of the picture which Raphael had left unfinished was completed by his pupil Giulio Romano, a powerful and gifted, but not a refined or elevated, genius. He supplied what was wanting in the colours and chiaroscuro according to Raphael's design, but not certainly as Raphael himself would have done it. The sum which Giulio received he bestowed as a dowry on his sister, when he gave her in marriage to Lorenzetto the sculptor, who had been a friend and pupil of Raphael. The cardinal did not send the picture to Narbonne, but, unwilling to deprive Rome of such a masterpiece, he presented it to the church of San Pietro in Montorio, and sent in its stead the Raising of Lazarus, by Sebastian del Piombo, now in our National Gallery. The French carried off the Transfiguration to Paris in 1797, and when restored, it was placed in the Vatican, where it now is."—Mrs. Jameson's History of Our Lord, vol. i.

3rd Room.—

Entrance Wall.—Madonna and Saints: Titian.

"Titian's altar-piece is a specimen of his pictures of this class. St. Nicholas, in full episcopal costume, is gazing upwards with an air of inspiration. St. Peter is looking over his shoulder at a book, and a beautiful St. Catherine is on the other side. Farther behind, are St. Francis and St. Anthony of Padua; on the left St. Sebastian, whose figure recurs in almost all of these pictures. Above, in the clouds, with angels, is the Madonna, who looks cheerfully on, while the lovely Child holds a wreath, as if ready to crown a votary."—Kugler.

"In this picture there are three stages, or whatever they are called, the same as in the Transfiguration. Below, saints and martyrs are represented in suffering and abasement; on every face is depicted sadness, nay, almost impatience; one figure in rich episcopal robes looks upwards, with the most eager and agonized longing, as if weeping, but he cannot see all that is floating above his head, but which we see, standing in front of the picture. Above, Mary and her Child are in a cloud, radiant with joy, and surrounded by angels, who have woven many garlands; the Holy Child holds one of these, and seems as if about to crown the saints beneath, but his Mother withholds his hand for the moment(?). The contrast between the pain and suffering below, whence St. Sebastian looks forth out of the picture with gloom and almost apathy, and the lofty unalloyed exultation in the clouds above, where crowns and palms are already awaiting him, is truly admirable. High above the group of Mary hovers the Holy Spirit, from whom emanates a bright streaming light, thus forming the apex of the whole composition. I have just remembered that Goethe, at the beginning of his first visit to Rome, describes and admires this picture; and he speaks of it in considerable detail. It was at that time in the Quirinal."—Mendelssohn's Letters.

Sta. Margherita da Cortona: Guercino. She is represented kneeling,—angels hovering above,—in the background is the Convent of Cortona.

RIGHT WALL:

Martyrdom of St. Laurence: Spagnoletto.

22. The Magdalen, with angels bearing the instruments of the Passion: Guercino.

23. The Coronation of the Virgin: Pinturicchio.

24. The Resurrection: Perugino. The figures are sharply relieved against a bright green landscape and a perfectly green sky. The figure of the risen Saviour is in a raised gold nimbus surrounded by cherubs' heads, as in the fresco of Pinturicchio at the Ara Cœli. The escaping soldier is said to be a portrait of Perugino, introduced by Raphael,—the sleeping soldier that of Raphael, by Perugino.

25. "La Madonna di Monte Luco," designed by Raphael: the upper part painted by Giulio Romano, the lower by Francesco Penni (Il Fattore). The apostles looking into the tomb of the Virgin, find it blooming with heartsease and ixias. Above, the Virgin is crowned amid the angels. There is a lovely landscape seen through a dark cave, which ends awkwardly in the black clouds. This picture was painted for the convent of Monte Luco near Spoleto.

26. The Nativity: Giovanni Spagna.

27. The Coronation of the Virgin: Raphael. The predella in the first room belonged to this picture, which was painted for the Benedictines of Perugia.

28. The Virgin and Child enthroned under an arcade—with S. Lorenzo, St. Louis, S. Ercolano, and S. Costanzo, standing: On the step of the throne is inscribed 'Hoc Petrus de Chastro Plebis Pinxit.'

29. Virgin and Child: Sassoferrato. A fat mundane Infant and a coarse Virgin seated on a crescent moon. The Child holds a rosary.

END WALL:

The Entombment: Caravaggio.

"Caravaggio's entombment of Christ is a picture wanting in all the characteristics of holy sublimity; but is nevertheless full of solemnity, only perhaps too like the funeral solemnity of a gipsy chief. A figure of such natural sorrow as the Virgin, who is represented as exhausted with weeping, with her trembling outstretched hands, has seldom been painted. Even as mother of a gipsy chief, she is dignified and touching."—Kugler.

LEFT WALL (RETURNING):

31. Doge A. Gritti (Titian), half-length, in a yellow robe.

Two very large pictures in many compartments, by Niccolo Alunno, of the Crucifixion and Saints. (Between them.)

Sixtus IV. and his Court: Melozzo da Forlì. A fresco, removed from the Vatican library by Leo XII., which is a most interesting memorial of an important historical family. Near the figure of the pope, Sixtus IV., who is known to Roman travellers from his magnificent bronze tomb in the Chapel of the Sacrament at St. Peter's, stand two of his nephews, of whom one is Giuliano della Rovere, afterwards Julius II., and the other Pietro Riario, who, from the position of a humble Franciscan monk, was raised, in a few months, by his uncle, to be Bishop of Treviso, Cardinal-Archbishop of Seville, Patriarch of Constantinople, Archbishop of Valentia, and Archbishop of Florence, when his life changed, and he lived with such extravagance, and gave banquets so magnificent, that "never had pagan antiquity seen anything like it;"[355] but within two years "he died (not without suspicion of poison), to the great grief of Pope Sixtus, and to the infinite joy of the whole college of cardinals."[356] The kneeling figure represents Platina, the historian of the popes and prefect of the Vatican library. In the background stand two other nephews of the pope, Cardinal Giovanni della Rovere, and Girolamo Riario, who was married by his uncle (or father?), the pope, to the famous Caterina Sforza,—was suspected of being the originator of the conspiracy of the Pazzi,—was created Count of Forlì, and to whose aggrandisement Sixtus IV. sacrificed every principle of morality and justice: he was murdered at Forli, April 14th, 1488. Beneath is inscribed:

"Templa domum expositis fora mœnia pontes:

Virgineam Trivii quod repararis aquam

Prisca licet nautis statuas dare commoda portus:

Et Vaticanum cingere Sixte jugum:

Plus tamen urbs debet: nam quæ squalore latebet.

Germitur in celebri bibliotheca loco."

4th Room.—

ENTRANCE WALL:

32. The Martyrdom of SS. Processus and Martinianus, the gaolers of St Peter: Valentin. It is stigmatised by Kugler as "an unimportant and bad picture," but, perhaps from the connection of the subject with the story of St Peter, has been thought worthy of being copied in mosaic in the basilica, whence this picture was brought.

"This picture is terrible for dark and effective expression; it is just one of those subjects in which the Caravaggio school delighted."—Jameson's Sacred Art.

33. Martyrdom of St. Peter: Guido Reni.

"This has the heavy powerful forms of Caravaggio, but wants the passionate feeling which sustains such subjects,—it is a martyrdom and nothing more,—it might pass for an enormous and horrible genre picture."—Kugler.

34. Martyrdom of St. Erasmus: N. Poussin. A most horrible picture of the disembowelment of the saint upon a wheel. It was copied in mosaic in St Peter's when the picture was removed from thence.

LEFT WALL:

35. The Annunciation: Baroccio. From Sta. Maria di Loreto, detained in the Vatican in exchange for a mosaic, after it was sent back by the French.

36. St. Gregory the Great—the miracle of the Brandeum: Andrea Sacchi.

"The Empress Constantia sent to St. Gregory requesting some of the relics of St. Peter and St. Paul. He excused himself, saying that he dared not disturb their sacred remains for such a purpose,—but he sent her part of a consecrated cloth (Brandeum) which had enfolded the body of St. John the Evangelist. The empress rejected this gift with contempt: whereupon Gregory, to show that such things are hallowed not so much in themselves as by the faith of believers, laid the Brandeum on the altar, and after praying he took up a knife and pierced it, and blood flowed as from a living body."—Jameson's Sacred Art, p. 321.

37. The Ecstasy of Sta. Michelina: Baroccio. This picture is mentioned by Lanzi as "Sta. Michelina estatica sul Calvario." The story appears to be lost.

BETWEEN THE WINDOWS:

The Madonna and Child with St. Jerome and St. Bartholomew: Moretto da Brescia (Buonvicino).

38. The Dream of Sta. Helena (of the finding of the true Cross): Paolo Veronese. Once in the Capitol collection.

RIGHT WALL (RETURNING):

39. Madonna with St. Thomas and St. Jerome: Guido. The St. Thomas is very grand.

40. Madonna della Cintola with St. John and St. Augustin. Signed 1521: Cesare da Sesto.

41. Salvator Mundi. Christ seated on the rainbow: Correggio?

42. St. Romualdo: Andrea Sacchi. The saint sees the vision of a ladder by which the friars of his Order ascend to heaven. The monks in white drapery are grand and noble figures.

"It is recorded in the legend of St. Romualdo, that, a short time before his death, he fell asleep beside a fountain near his cell; and he dreamed, and in his dream he saw a ladder like that which the patriarch Jacob beheld in his vision, resting on the earth, and the top of it reaching to heaven; and he saw the brethren of his Order ascending by twos and by threes, all clothed in white. When Romualdo awoke from his dream, he changed the habit of his monks from black to white, which they have ever since worn in remembrance of this vision."—Jameson's Monastic Orders, p. 117.

A door on the ground-floor of the Cortile di S. Damaso will admit visitors (with an order) to visit the Papal Manufactory of Mosaics, whence so many beautiful works have issued, and where others are always in progress.

"Ghirlandajo, who felt the utmost enthusiasm for the august remains of Roman grandeur, was still more deeply impressed by the sight of the ancient mosaics of the Christian basilicas, the image of which was still present to his mind when he said, at a more advanced age, that 'mosaic was the true painting for eternity.'"—Rio.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE ISLAND AND THE TRASTEVERE.

Ponte Quattro Capi—Gaetani Tower—S. Bartolomeo in Isola—Temple of Æsculapius—Hospital of the Benfratelli—Mills on the Tiber—Ponte Cestio—Fornarina's House—S. Benedetto a Piscinuola—Castle of the Alberteschi—S. Crispino—Palazzo Ponziani—Sta. Maria in Cappella—Sta. Cecilia—Hospital of S. Michele—Porta Portese—Sta. Maria del Orto—S. Francesco a Ripa—Castle of the Anquillara—S. Chrisogono—Hospital of S. Gallicane—Sta. Maria in Trastevere—S. Calisto—Convent of Sta. Anna—S. Cosimato—Porta Settimiana—Sta. Dorotea—Ponte Sisto.

FOLLOWING the road which leads to the Temple of Vesta, &c., as far as the Via Savelli, and then turning down past the gateway of the Orsini palace, with its two bears,—we reach the Ponte Quattro Capi.

This was the ancient Pons Fabricius, built of stone in the place of a wooden bridge, A.U.C. 733, by Fabricius, the Curator Viarum. It has two arches, with a small ornamental one in the central pier. In the twelfth century the greater part was faced with brickwork. An inscription, only partly legible, remains. L. FABRICIUS. C. T. CUR. VIAR. FACIUNDUM. CURAVIT. EIDEMQ. PROBAVIT.—Q. LEPIDUS. M. F. M. LOLLIUS. M. F. COS. EX. S. C. PROBAVERUNT. From this inscription the inference has been drawn that the senate always allowed forty years to elapse between the completion of a public work, and the grant to it of their public approval. This bridge, according to Horace, was a favourite spot with those who wished to drown themselves; hence Damasippus would have leaped into the Tiber, if it were not for the precepts of the stoic Stertinius:

"Unde ego mira

Descripsi docilis præcepta hæc, tempore quo me

Solatus jussit sapientem pascere barbam,

Atque a Fabricio non tristem ponte reverti."

Horace, Sat. ii. 3.

The name of the bridge changed with time to "Pons Tarpeius" and "Pons Judæorum," from the neighbouring Ghetto. It is now called Ponte Quattro Capi, from two busts of the four-headed Janus, which adorn its parapet, and are supposed to have come from the temple of "Janus Geminus," which stood in this neighbourhood.

On crossing this bridge, we are on the Island in the Tiber, the formation of which is ascribed by tradition to the produce of the corn-fields of the Tarquins (cast contemptuously upon the waters after their expulsion), which accumulated here, till soil gathered around them, and a solid piece of land was formed. Of this, Ampère says:

"L'effet du courant rapide du fleuve est plutôt de détruire les îles que d'en former. C'est ainsi qu'une petite île a été entraînée par la violence des eaux en 1718."—Histoire Romaine à Rome.

On this island, anciently known as the Isola Tiberina, were three temples,—those, namely, of Æsculapius:

"Unde Coroniden circumflua Tibridis alveo

Insula Romuleæ sacris adsciverit urbis."

Ovid, Metam. xv. 624.

"Accepit Phœbo Nymphaque Coronide natum

Insula, dividua quam premit amnis aqua."

Ovid, Fast. i. 291.

of Jupiter:

"Jupiter in parte est, cepit locus unus utrumque:

Junctaque sunt magno templa nepotis avo."

Ovid, Fast. i. 293.

and of Faunus:

"Idibus agrestis fumant altaria Fauni,

Hic ubi discretas insula rumpit aquas."

Ovid, Fast. ii. 193.

Here also was an altar to the Sabine god Semo-Sancus, whose inscription, legible in the early centuries of Christianity, led various ecclesiastical authors into the error that the words "Semoni Sanco" referred to Simon Magus.[357]

In imperial times the island was used as a prison: among remarkable prisoners immured here was Arvandus, Prefect of Gaul, A.D. 468. In the reign of Claudius sick slaves were exposed and left to die here,—that emperor—by a strange contradiction in one who caused fallen gladiators to be butchered "for the pleasure of seeing them die"—making a law that any slave so exposed should receive his liberty if he recovered. In the middle ages the island was under the jurisdiction of the Cardinal Bishop of Porto, who lived in the Franciscan convent. Under Leo X. a fête was held here in which Camillo Querno, the papal poet, was crowned with ivy, laurel, and cabbage (!). In 1656 the whole island was appropriated as a hospital for those stricken with the plague,—a singular coincidence for the site of the temple of Æsculapius.

The first building on the left, after passing the bridge, is a fine brick tower, of great historic interest, as the only relic of a castle, built by the family of the Anicii, of which St. Gregory the Great was a member, and two of whom were consuls together under Honorius:

"Est in Romuleo procumbens insula Tibri,

Qua medius geminas interfluit alveus urbes,

Discretas subeunte freto, pariterque minantes

Ardua turrigeræ surgunt in culmina ripæ.

Hic stetit et subitum prospexit ab aggere votum.

Unanimes fratres junctos stipante senatu

Ire forum, strictasque procul radiare secures,

Atque uno bijuges tolli de limine fasces."

Claudius, Paneg. in Prob. et Olyb. Cons. 226.

From the Anicii the castle passed to the Gaetani. It was occupied as a fortress by the Countess Matilda, after she had driven the faction of the anti-pope Guibert out of the island, and was the refuge where two successive popes, Victor III. and Urban II., lived under her protection.[358]

The centre of the island is now occupied by the Church and Convent of S. Bartolomeo, which gives it its present name.

The piazza in front of the church is occupied by a pillar, erected at the private expense of Pius IX., to commemorate the opening of the Vatican Council of 1869—70,—adorned with statues of St. Bartholomew, St. Paulinus of Nola, St. Francis, and S. Giovanni di Dio. Here formerly stood an ancient obelisk (the only one of unknown origin). A fragment of it was long preserved at the Villa Albani, whence it is said to have been removed to Urbino. The church, a basilica, was founded by Otho III. c. 1000; its campanile dates from 1118. The nave and aisles are divided by red granite columns, said to be relics of the ancient temple,—as is a marble well-head under the stairs leading to the tribune. This was restored in 1798, and dedicated to St. Adalbert of Gnesen, who bestowed upon the church its great relic, the body of St. Bartholomew, which he asserted to have brought from Beneventum, though the inhabitants of that town profess that they still possess the real body of the apostle, and sent that of St. Paulinus of Nola to Rome instead. The dispute about the possession of this relic ran so high as to lead to a siege of Beneventum in the middle ages. The convent belongs to the Franciscans (Frati-Minori), who will admit male visitors into their pretty little garden at the end of the island, to see the remains of

The Temple of Æsculapius, built after the great plague in Rome, in B.C. 291, when, in accordance with the advice of the Sibylline books, ambassadors were sent to Epidaurus to bring Æsculapius to Rome;—they returned with a statue of the god, but as their vessel sailed up the Tiber, a serpent, which had lain concealed during the voyage, glided from it, and landed on this spot, hailed by the people under the belief that Æsculapius himself had thus come to them. In consequence of this story the form of a ship was given to this end of the island, and its bow may still be seen at the end of the convent garden, with the famous serpent of Æsculapius sculptured upon it in high relief.[359] The curious remains still existing are not of sufficient size to bear out the assertion often made that the whole island was enclosed in the travertine form of a ship, of which the temple of Jupiter at the other end afterwards formed the prow, and the obelisk the mast.

"Pendant les guerres Samnites, Rome fut de nouveau frappée par une de ces maladies auxquelles elle était souvent en proie; celle-ci dura trois années. On eut recours aux livres Sibyllins. En cas pareil ils avaient prescrit de consacrer un temple à Apollon; cette fois ils prescrivirent d'aller à Epidaure chercher le fils d'Apollon, Esculape, et de l'amener à Rome. Esculape, sous la forme d'un serpent, fut transporté d'Epidaure dans l'île Tibérine, où on lui éleva un temple, et où ont été trouvés des ex-voto, représentant des bras, des jambes, diverses autres parties du corps humain, ex-votos qu'on eût pu croire provenir d'une église de Rome, car le catholicisme romain a adopté cet usage païen sans y rien changer.

"Pourquoi place-t-on le temple d'Esculape en cet endroit? On a vu que l'île Tibérine avait été très-anciennement consacrée au culte d'un dieu des Latins primitifs, Faunus; or ce dieu rendait ses oracles près des sources thermales; its devaient avoir souvent pour l'objet la guérison des malades qui venaient demander la santé à ces sources. De plus, les malades consultaient Esculape dans les songes par incubation, comme dans l'Ovide, Numa va consulter Faunus sur l'Aventin. Il n'est donc pas surprenant qu'on ait institué le culte du dieu grec de la santé, là où le dieu latin Faunus rendait ses oracles dans des songes, et où étaient probablement des sources d'eau chaude qui ont disparu comme les lautulæ près du Forum romain.

"On donna à l'île la forme d'un vaisseau, plus tard un obélisque figura le mât; en la regardant du Ponte Rotto, on reconnaît encore très bien cette forme, de ce côté, on voit sculpté sur le mur qui figure le vaisseau d'Esculape une image du dieu avec un serpent entortillé autour de son sceptre. La belle statue d'Esculape, venue des jardins Farnèse, passe pour avoir été celle de l'île Tibérine. Un temple de Jupiter touchait à ce temple d'Esculape.

"Un jour que je visitais ce lieu, le sacristain de l'église de St. Barthélemy me dit, 'Al tempo d'Esculapio quando Giove regnava.' Phrase singulière, et qui montre encore vivante une sorte de foi au paganisme chez les Romains."—Ampère, iii. 42.

Opposite S. Bartolomeo, on the site of the temple of Faunus, is the Hospital of S. Giovanni Calabita, also called Benfratelli, entirely under the care of the brethren of S. Giovanni di Dio, who cook, nurse, wash, and otherwise do all the work of those who pass under their care, often to the number of 1200 in the course of the year, though the hospital is very small.

"C'est à Pie V. que les frères de l'ordre de la Charité, institué par saint Jean de Dieu, durent leur premier établissement à Rome.

"Au milieu du cortége triomphal qui accompagnait don Juan d'Autriche (1571), lors de son retour de Lépante, on remarquait un pauvre homme misérablement vêtu et à l'attitude modeste. Il se nommait Sébastien Arias des frères de Jean de Dieu. Jean de Dieu était mort sans laisser d'autre règle à ses disciples que ces touchantes paroles qu'il répétait sans cesse, faites le bien, mes frères; et Sébastien d'Arias venait à Rome pour demander au pape l'autorisation de former des couvents et d'avoir des hospices où ils pussent suivre les exemples de dévouement que leur avait laissés Jean de Dieu. Or, Sébastien rencontra don Juan à Naples, et le vainqueur de Lépante le prit avec lui. Il se chargea même d'appuyer sa requête, et Pie V. s'empressa d'accorder aux frères non-seulement la bulle qu'ils désiraient, mais encore un monastère dans l'île du Tibre."—Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne, ii. 206.

A narrow lane near this leads to the other end of the island, where the temple of Jupiter stood. It is worth while to go thither for the sake of the view of the river and its bridges, which is to be obtained from a little quay leading to one of the numerous water-mills which exist near this. These floating Mills (which bear sacred monograms upon their gables) are interesting as having been invented by Belisarius in order to supply the people and garrison with bread, during the siege of Rome by Vitiges, when the Goths had cut the aqueducts, and thus rendered the mills on the Janiculan useless.

The bridge, of one large and two smaller arches, which connects the island with the Trastevere, is now called the Ponte S. Bartolomeo, but was anciently the Pons Cestius, or Gratianus, built A.U.C. 708, by the Prætor Lucius Cestius, who was probably father to the Caius Cestius buried near the Porta S. Paolo. It was restored A.D. 370 by the emperors Valentinian, Valens, and Gratian, as is seen from the fragments of a red letter inscription on the inside of the parapet, in which the title "Pontifex Maximus" is ascribed to each—"a tide accepted without hesitation," says Gibbon, "by seven Christian emperors, who were invested with more absolute authority over the religion they had deserted, than over that which they professed."

We now enter the Trastevere, the city "across the Tiber,"—the portion of Rome which is most unaltered from mediæval times, and whose narrow streets are still overlooked by many ancient towers, gothic windows, and curious fragments of sculpture. The inhabitants on this side differ in many respects from those on the other side of the Tiber. They pride themselves upon being born "Trasteverini," profess to be the direct descendants of the ancient Romans, seldom intermarry with their neighbours, and speak a dialect peculiarly their own. It is said that in their dispositions also they differ from the other Romans, that they are a far more hasty, passionate, and revengeful, as they are a stronger and more vigorous race. The proportion of murders (a crime far less common in Rome than in England) is larger in this than in any other part of the city. This, it is believed, is partly due to the extreme excitement which the Trasteverini display in the pursuit of their national games, especially that of Morrà:—

"Morrà is played by the men, and merely consists in holding up, in rapid succession, any number of fingers they please, calling out at the same time the number their antagonist shows. Nothing, seemingly, can be more simple or less interesting. Yet, to see them play, so violent are their gestures, that you would imagine them possessed by some diabolical passion. The eagerness and rapidity with which they carry it on render it very liable to mistake and altercation; then frenzy fires them, and too often furious disputes arise at this trivial play that end in murder. Morrà seems to differ in no respect from the Micare Digitis of the ancient Romans."—Eaton's Rome.

A house with gothic windows on the right, soon after passing the bridge, is pointed out as that once inhabited by the Fornarina, beloved of Raphael, and so well known to us from his portrait of her in the Tribune at Florence.

Crossing the Via Longarina, we find ourselves in the little piazza of S. Benedetto a Piscinuola, where there is a tiny church, with a good brick campanile intersected by terra-cotta mouldings, which occupies the site of the house inhabited by St. Benedict before his retreat to Subiaco. The exterior is uninviting, but the interior very curious; an atrium with antique columns opens to a vaulted chapel (of the same design as the Orto del Paradiso at Sta. Prassede), in which is a picture of the Virgin and Child, revered as that before which St. Benedict was wont to pray. Hence is entered the cell of the saint, of rough-hewn stones. His stone pillow is shown.

The church has ancient pillars, and a rich opus-alexandrinum pavement.

"Over the high altar is a picture—full-length—of St. Benedict, which Mabillon ('Iter Italicum') considers a genuine contemporary portrait—though Nibby and other critics suppose it less ancient. The figure on gold background is seated in a chair with gothic carvings, such as were in mediæval use; the black cowl is drawn over the head, the hair and beard are white; the aspect is serious and thoughtful, in one hand a crozier, in the other the book of rules drawn up by the Saint, displaying the words with which they begin: 'Ausculta fili precepta magistri."—Hemans' Ancient Sacred Art.

Turning down the Via Longarina towards the river, we pass, on the left, considerable remains of the old mediæval Castle of the Alberteschi Family, consisting of a block of palatial buildings of handsome masonry, with numerous antique fragments built into them, and a very rich porch sculptured with egg and billet mouldings of c. A.D. 1150, and beyond these, separated from them by a modern street, a high brick tower of c. A.D. 1100. Above one of the windows of this tower, a head of Jupiter is engrafted in the wall.

We now reach the entrance of the Ponte Rotto (described Chap. V.). Close to this bridge is the Church of S. Crispino al Ponte (the saint is buried at S. Lorenzo Pane e Perna). The front is modernized, but the east end displays rich terra-cotta cornices, and is very picturesque. On the river bank below this are the colossal lions' heads mentioned in Chap. V.

Turning up the Via dei Vascellari, we pass on the right, the ancient Palace of the Ponziani Family, once magnificent, but now of humble and rude exterior, and scarcely to be distinguished, except in March, during the festa of Sta. Francesca Romana, when old tapestries are hung out upon its white-washed walls, and the street in front is thickly strewn with box-leaves.

"The modern building that has been raised on the foundation of the old palace is the Casa dei Esercizii Pii, for the young men of the city. There the repentant sinner who longs to break the chain of sin, the youth beset by some strong temptation, one who has heard the inward voice summoning him to higher paths of virtue, another who is in doubt as to the particular line of life to which he is called, may come, and leave behind him for three, or five, or ten days, as it may be, the busy world, with all its distractions and its agitations, and, free for the time being from temporal cares, the wants of the body being provided for, and the mind at rest, may commune with God and their own souls.

"Over the Casa dei Esercizii Pii the sweet spirit of Francesca seems still to preside. On the day of her festival its rooms are thrown open, every memorial of the gentle saint is exhibited, lights burn on numerous altars, flowers deck the passages, leaves are strewn in the chapel, on the stairs, in the entrance-court; gay carpets, figured tapestry, and crimson silks hang over the door, and crowds of people go in and out, and kneel before the relics or the pictures of the dear saint of Rome. It is a touching festival, which carries back the mind to the day when the young bride of Lorenzo Ponziano entered these walls for the first time, in all the sacred beauty of holiness and youth."—Lady G. Fullerton.

In this house, also, Sta. Francesca Romana died, having come hither from her convent to nurse her son who was ill, and having been then seized with mortal illness herself.

"Touching were the last words of the dying mother to her spiritual children: 'Love, love,' was the burden of her teaching, as it had been that of the beloved disciple. 'Love one another,' she said, 'and be faithful unto death. Satan will assault you, as he has assaulted me, but be not afraid. You will overcome him through patience and obedience; and no trial will be too grievous, if you are united to Jesus; if you walk in His ways, He will be with you.' On the seventh day of her illness, as she had herself announced, her life came to a close. A sublime expression animated her face, a more ethereal beauty clothed her earthly form. Her confessor for the last time inquired what it was her enraptured eyes beheld, and she answered, 'The heavens open! the angels descend! the angel has finished his task. He stands before me. He beckons me to follow him.' These were the last words Francesca uttered."—Lady G. Fullerton's Life of Sta. F. Romana.

Almost opposite the Ponziani Palace, an alley leads to the small chapel of Sta. Maria in Cappella, which has a good brick campanile, dating from 1090. This building is attached to a hospital for poor women ill of incurable diseases, attended by sisters of charity, and entirely under the patronage of the Doria family.

We now reach the front of the Convent and Church of Sta. Cecilia (facing which is a picturesque mediæval house), in many ways one of the most interesting buildings in the city.

Cecilia was a noble and rich Roman lady, who lived in the reign of Alexander Severus. She was married at sixteen to Valerian, a heathen, with whom she lived in perpetual virginity, telling him that her guardian angel watched over her by day and night.

"I have an angel which thus loveth me—

That with great love, whether I wake or sleep,

Is ready aye my body for to keep."

Chaucer.

At length Valerian and his brother Tiburtius were converted to Christianity by her prayers, and the exhortations of Pope Urban I. The husband and brother were beheaded for refusing to sacrifice to idols, and Cecilia was shortly afterwards condemned by Almachius, prefect of Rome, who was covetous of the great wealth she had inherited by their deaths. She was first shut up in the Sudatorium of her own baths, and a blazing fire was lighted, that she might be destroyed by the hot vapours. But when the bath was opened, she was found still living, "for God," says the legend, "had sent a cooling shower, which had tempered the heat of the fire, and preserved the life of the saint." Almachius, then, who dreaded the consequences of bringing so noble and courageous a victim to public execution, sent a lictor to behead her in her own palace, but he executed his office so ill, that she still lived after the third blow of his axe, after which the Roman law forbade that a victim should be stricken again. "The Christians found her bathed in her blood, and during three days she still preached and taught, like a doctor of the Church, with such sweetness and eloquence, that four hundred pagans were converted. On the third day she was visited by Pope Urban, to whose care she tenderly committed the poor whom she nourished, and to him she bequeathed the palace in which she had lived, that it might be consecrated as a temple to the Saviour. Then, "thanking God that he considered her, a humble woman, worthy to share the glory of his heroes, and with her eyes apparently fixed upon the heavens opening before her, she departed to her heavenly bridegroom, upon the 22nd November, A.D. 280."

The foundation of the church dates from its consecration by Pope Urban I., after the death of St. Cecilia, but it was rebuilt by Paschal I. in 821, and miserably modernized by Cardinal Doria in 1725. The exterior retains its ancient campanile of 1120, and its atrium of marble pillars, evidently collected from pagan edifices and surmounted by a frieze of mosaic, in which medallion heads of Cecilia, Valerian, Tiburtius, Urban I., and others are introduced. In the courtyard of the convent, which belongs to Benedictine nuns, is a fine specimen of the Roman vase called Cantharus, perhaps coeval with St. Cecilia's own residence here.

Right of the door, on entering, is the tomb of Adam of Hertford, Bishop of London, who died 1398, the only one spared from a cruel death, of the cardinals who conspired against Urban VI., and were taken prisoners at Lucera—from fear of King John who was his friend. His sarcophagus is adorned with the arms of England, then three leopards and fleurs-de-lis quartered. On the opposite side of the entrance is the tomb of Cardinal Fortiguerra, conspicuous in the contests of Pius II. and Paul II. with the Malatestas and Savellis in the fifteenth century. The drapery is a beautiful specimen of the delicate carving of detail during that period.

The altar canopy, which bears the name of its artist, Arnolphus, and the date 1286, is a fine specimen of gothic work, and has statuettes of Cecilia, Valerian, Tiburtius, and Urban. Beneath the altar is the famous statue of St. Cecilia.

In the archives of the Vatican remains an account written by Pope Paschal I. (A.D. 817—24) himself, describing how, "yielding to the infirmity of the flesh," he fell asleep in his chair during the early morning service at St. Peter's, with his mind pre-occupied with a longing to find the burial-place of Cecilia, and discover her relics. Then in a glorified vision the virgin-saint appeared before him, and revealed the spot where she lay, with her husband and brother-in-law, in the catacomb of Calixtus, and there they were found, and transported to her church on the following day.

In the sixteenth century, Sfondrato, titular cardinal of the church, opened the tomb of the martyr, when the embalmed body of Cecilia was found, as it had been previously found by Paschal, robed in gold tissue, with linen clothes steeped in blood at her feet, "not lying upon the back, like a body in a tomb, but upon its right side, like a virgin in her bed, with her knees modestly drawn together, and offering the appearance of sleep." Pope Clement VIII. and all the people of Rome rushed to look upon the saint, who was afterwards enclosed as she was found, in a shrine of cypress wood cased in silver. But before she was again hidden from sight, the greatest artist of the day, Stefano Maderno, was called in by Sfondrato, to sculpture the marble portrait which we now see lying upon her grave. Sfondrato (whose tomb is in this church) also enriched her shrine with the ninety-six silver lamps which burn constantly before it. In regarding this statue it will be remembered that Cecilia was not beheaded, but wounded in the throat,—a gold circlet conceals the wound.

In the statue "the body lies on its side, the limbs a little drawn up; the hands are delicate and fine,—they are not locked, but crossed at the wrists: the arms are stretched out. The drapery is beautifully modelled, and modestly covers the limbs.... It is the statue of a lady, perfect in form, and affecting from the resemblance to reality in the drapery of white marble, and the unspotted appearance of the statue altogether. It lies as no living body could lie, and yet correctly, as the dead when left to expire,—I mean in the gravitation of the limbs."—Sir C. Bell.

The inscription says: "Behold the body of the most holy virgin Cecilia, whom I myself saw lying incorrupt in her tomb. I have in this marble expressed for thee the same saint in the very same posture of body."

The tribune is adorned with mosaics of the ninth century, erected in the lifetime of Paschal I. (see his square nimbus). The Saviour is seen in the act of benediction, robed in gold: at his side are SS. Peter and Paul, St. Cecilia and St. Valerian, St. Paschal I. carrying the model of his church, and St. Agatha, whom he joined with Cecilia in its dedication. The mystic palm-trees and the phœnix, the emblem of eternity, are also represented, and, beneath, the four rivers, and the twelve sheep, emblematical of the apostles, issuing from the gates of Bethlehem and Jerusalem, to the adoration of the spotless Lamb. The picture of St. Cecilia behind the altar is attributed to Guido.

At the end of the right aisle is an ancient fresco representing the dream of Pope Paschal,—the (mitred) pope asleep upon his throne, and the saint appearing before him in a rich robe adorned with gems. This is the last of a series of frescoes which once existed in the portico of the church. The rest were destroyed in the seventeenth century. There are copies of them in the Barberini Library, viz.

1. The marriage feast of Valerian and Cecilia.

2. Cecilia persuades Valerian to seek for St. Urban.

3. Valerian rides forth to seek for Urban.

4. Valerian is baptized.

5. An Angel crowns Cecilia and Valerian.

6. Cecilia converts her executioners.

7. Cecilia suffers in the bath.

8. The Martyrdom of Cecilia.

9. The Burial of Cecilia.

10. The dream of Paschal.

Opening out of the same aisle are two chambers in the house of St. Cecilia, one the sudatorium of her baths, in which she was immured, actually retaining the pipes and calorifers of an ancient Roman bath.

The Festa of St. Cecilia is observed in this church on November 22nd, when—

—"rapt Cecilia, seraph-haunted queen of harmony"—[360]

is honoured in beautiful music from the papal choir assembled here. Visitors to Bologna will recollect the glorious figure of St. Cecilia by Raphael, rapt in ecstasy, and surrounded by instruments of music. This association with Cecilia probably arises from the tradition of the church, which tells how Valerian, returning from baptism by Pope Urban, found her singing hymns of triumph for his conversion, of which he had supposed her to be ignorant, and that when the bath was opened after her three days' imprisonment, she was again found singing the praises of her Saviour.

It is said that "she sang with such ravishing sweetness, that even the angels descended from heaven to listen to her, or to join their voices with hers."

The antiphons sung upon her festival are:

"And Cecilia, thy servant, serves thee, O Lord, even as the bee that is never idle.

"I bless thee, O Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, for through thy Son the fire hath been quenched round about me.

"I asked of the Lord a respite of three days, that I might consecrate my house as a church.

"O Valerian, I have a secret to tell thee; I have for my lover an angel of God, who, with great jealousy, watches over my body.

"The glorious virgin ever bore the Gospel of Christ in her bosom, and neither by day nor night ceased from conversing with God in prayer."

And the anthem:

"While the instruments of music were playing, Cecilia sang unto the Lord, and said, Let my heart be undefiled, that I may never be confounded.

"And Valerianus found Cecilia praying in her chamber with an angel."

It will be remembered that Cecilia is one of the chosen saints daily commemorated in the canon of the mass.

"Nobis quoque peccatoribus famulis tuis, de multitudine miserationum tuarum sperantibus, partem aliquam et societatem donare digneris cum tuis sanctis Apostolis et Martyribus: cum Joanne, Stephano, Matthia, Barnaba, Ignatio, Alexandro, Marcellino, Petro, Felicitate, Perpetua, Agata, Lucia, Agnete, Cæcilia, Anastasia, et omnibus sanctis."

Just beyond St. Cecilia is the immense Hospital of S. Michele, founded by Cardinal Odescalchi, nephew of Innocent XI., in 1693, as a refuge for vagabond children, where they might be properly brought up and taught a trade. Innocent XII. (Pignatelli) added to this foundation a hospital for sick persons of both sexes, and each succeeding pope has increased the buildings and their endowment. The establishment is now divided into an asylum for old men and women, a school with ateliers for boys and girls, and a penitentiary ("Casa delle Donne cattive"). A large church was attached to the hospital by Leo XII. No old men are admitted who have not inhabited Rome for five years; if they are still able to work a small daily task is given to them. The old women, as long as they can work, are obliged to mend and wash the linen of the establishment. The boys, for the most part orphans, are received at the age of eleven. The girls receive a dowry of 300 francs if they marry, but double that sum if they consent to enter a convent. A printing press is attached to the hospital.

S. Michele occupies the site of the sacred grove of the goddess Furina (not of the Furies), where Caius Gracchus was killed, B.C. 123. Protected by his friends, he escaped from the Aventine, where he had first taken refuge, and crossed the Pons Sublicius. A single slave reached the grove of Furina with him, who having in vain sought for a horse to continue their flight, first slew his master and then himself. One Septimuleius then cut off the head of Gracchus, and—a proclamation having been issued that any one who brought the head of Caius Gracchus should receive its weight in gold—first filled it with lead, and then carried it on a spear to the consul Opimius, who paid him his blood-money.

At the end of this street is the Porta Portese, built by Urban VIII., through which runs the road to Porto and Fiumicino.

Outside this gate was the site of the camp of Tarquin,—afterwards given by the senate to Mutius-Scævola, for his bravery in the camp of Lars Porsenna. The vineyards here have an interest to Roman Catholics as the scene of one of the miracles attributed to Sta. Francesca Romana.

"One fine sunny January day, Francesca and her companions had worked since dawn in the vineyards of the Porta Portese. They had worked hard for several hours, and then suddenly remembered that they had brought no provisions with them. They soon became faint and hungry, and, above all, very thirsty. Perna, the youngest of all the oblates, was particularly heated and tired, and asked permission of the Mother Superior to go to drink water at a fountain some way off on the public road.

"'Be patient, my child,' Francesca answered, and they went on with their work; but Francesca withdrawing aside, knelt down, and said, 'Lord Jesus, I have been thoughtless in forgetting to provide food for my sisters,—help us in our need.'

"Perna, who had kept near the Mother Superior, said to herself, with some impatience, 'It would be more to the purpose to take us home at once.' Then Francesca, turning to her, said, 'My child, you do not trust in God; look up and see.' And Perna saw a vine entwined around a tree, whose dead and leafless branches were loaded with grapes. In speechless astonishment the oblates assembled around the tree, for they had all seen its bare and withered branches. Twenty times at least they had passed before it, and the season for grapes was gone by. There were exactly as many bunches as persons present.'—See Lady G. Fullerton's Life of Sta. F. Romana.

From the back of S. Michele a cross street leads to the Church of Sta. Maria dell' Orto, designed by Giulio Romano, c. 1530, except the façade, which is by Martino Lunghi. The high altar is by Giacomo della Porta. The church contains an Annunciation by Taddeo Zucchero.

"Cette église appartient à plusieurs corporations; chacune a sa tombe devant sa propre chapelle, et sur le couvercle sont gravées ses armes particulières; un coq sur la tombe des marchands de volaille, une pantoufle sur celle des savetiers, des artichauts sur celle des jardiniers, &c."—Robello.

Close to this, at the end of the street which runs parallel with S. Michele, is the Church of S. Francesco a Ripa, the noviciate of the Franciscans—"Frati Minori." The convent contains the room (approached through the church) in which St. Francis lived, during his visits at Rome, with many relics of him. His stone pillow and his crucifix are shown, and a picture of him by G. de' Lettesoli. An altar in his chamber supports a reliquary in which 18,000 relics are displayed!

The church was rebuilt soon after the death of St. Francis by the knight Pandolfo d'Anquillara (his castle is in the Via Lungaretta), whose tomb is in the church, with his figure, in the dress of a Franciscan monk, which he assumed in the latter part of his life. It was again rebuilt by Cardinal Pallavicini, from designs of Matteo Rossi. Among its pictures are the Virgin and St. Anne by Baciccio, the Nativity by Simon Vouet, and a dead Christ by Annibale Caracci. On the left of the altar is the Altieri chapel, in which is a recumbent statue of the blessed Luigi Albertoni, by Bernini. In the third chapel on the right is a mummy, said to be that of the virgin martyr Sta. Semplicia. The convent garden has some beautiful palm-trees.

Following the Via Morticelli we regain the Via Lungaretta near S. Benedetto. This street, more than any other in Rome, retains remnants of mediæval architecture. On the right (opposite the opening to the west end of S. Chrisogono) is the entrance to the old Castle of the Anguillara Family, of whom were Count Pandolfo d'Anguillara already mentioned, and Everso, his grandson, celebrated for his highway robberies between Rome and Viterbo in the fifteenth century; also Orso d'Anguillara, senator of Rome, who crowned Petrarch at the Capitol on Easter Day, 1341. "The family device, two crossed eels, surmounted by a helmet, and a wild boar holding a serpent in his mouth, is believed to refer to the story of the founder of their house, Malagrotta, a second St. George, who slew a terrible serpent, which had devastated the district round his abode, and received in recompense from the pope the gift of as much land as he could walk round in one day."[361]

The existing remains consist of an arch, called "L'Arco dell' Annunziata," and a brick tower, which is now in the possession of a Signor Forti, who exhibits here, during Epiphany, a remarkably pretty Presepio, in which the Holy Family and the Shepherds are seen backed by the real landscape. For those who witness this sight it will be interesting to turn to the origin of a Presepio.

"St. Francis asked [of Pope Honorius III. 1223], with his usual simplicity, to be allowed to celebrate Christmas with certain unusual ceremonies which had suggested themselves to him—ceremonies which he must have thought likely to seize upon the popular imagination and impress the unlearned folk. He would not do it on his own authority, we are told, lest he should be accused of levity. When he made this petition, he was bound for the village of Grecia, a little place not far from Assisi, where he was to remain during that sacred season. In this village, when the eve of the nativity approached, Francis instructed a certain grave and worthy man, called Giovanni, to prepare an ox and an ass, along with a manger and all the common fittings of a stable, for his use, in the church. When the solemn night arrived, Francis and his brethren arranged all these things into a visible representation of the occurrences of the night at Bethlehem. The manger was filled with hay, the animals were led into their places; the scene was prepared as we see it now through all the churches of Southern Italy—a reproduction, so far as the people know how, in startling realistic detail of the surroundings of the first Christmas.... We are told that Francis stood by this, his simple theatrical (for such, indeed, it was—no shame to him) representation, all the night long, sighing for joy, and filled with an unspeakable sweetness."—Mrs. Oliphant, St. Francis.

On the left, is the fine Church of S. Chrisogono, founded by Pope Sylvester, but rebuilt in 731, and again by Cardinal Scipio Borghese (who modernized so many of the old churches), in 1623. The tower is mediæval (rebuilt?), but spoilt by whitewash; the portico has four ancient granite columns. The interior is a basilica, the nave being separated from the aisles by twenty-two granite columns, and the tribune from the nave by two magnificent columns of porphyry. The baldacchino, of graceful proportions, rests on pillars of yellow alabaster. Over the tabernacle is a picture of the Virgin and Child by the Cav. d'Arpino. The mosaic in the tribune, probably only the fragment of a larger design, represents the Madonna and Child enthroned, between St. James the Great and St. Chrisogonus. The stalls are good specimens of modern wood-carving. Near the end of the right aisle is the modern tomb of Anna Maria Taigi, lately beatified and likely to be canonized, though readers of her life will find it difficult to imagine why,—the great point of her character being that she was a good wife to her husband, though he was "ruvido di maniere, e grossolano." Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, was titular cardinal of this church.

S. Chrisogono, represented in the mosaic as a young knight, stood by Sta. Anastasia during her martyrdom, exhorting her to patient endurance. He was afterwards himself beheaded under Diocletian, and his body thrown into the sea.

In 1866 an Excubitorium of the VIIth cohort of Vigiles (a station of Roman firemen) was discovered near this church. Several chambers were tolerably perfect.

On the left, we pass the Hospital of S. Gallicano, founded by Benedict XIII. (Orsini), in 1725, as is told by the inscription over the entrance, for the "neglectis rejectisque ab omnibus." The interior contains two long halls opening into one another, the first containing 120 beds for men, the second 88 for women. Patients affected with maladies of the skin are received here to the number of 100. The principal treatment is by means of baths, which gives the negative, within these walls, to the Italian saying that "an ancient Roman took as many baths in a week as a modern Roman in all his life." The establishment is at present under the management of the Benfratelli ("Fate bene fratelli"). S. Gallicano, to whom the hospital is dedicated, was a Benfratello of the time of Constantine, who devoted his time and his fortune to the poor.

At the upper end of the Via Lungaretta is a piazza with a very handsome fountain, on one side of which is the Church of Sta. Maria in Trastevere, supposed to be the first church in Rome dedicated to the Virgin. It was founded by St. Calixtus in A.D. 224, on the site of the Taberna-Meritoria, an asylum for old soldiers; where, according to Don Cassius, a fountain of pure oil sprang up at the time of our Saviour's birth, and flowed away in one day to the Tiber, a story which gave the name of "Fons Olei" to the church in early times. It is said that wine-sellers and tavern-keepers (popinarii) disputed with the early Christian inhabitants for this site, upon which the latter had raised some kind of humble oratory, and that they carried their complaint before Alexander Severus, when the emperor awarded the site to the Christians, saying, "I prefer that it should belong to those who honour God, whatever be their form of worship."

"Ce souvenir augmente encore l'intérêt qui s'attache à l'église de Santa Maria in Trastevere. Les colonnes antiques de granit égyptien de cette basilique et les belles mosaïques qui la décorent me touchent moins que la tradition d'après laquelle elle fut élevée là où de pauvres chrétiens se rassemblaient dans un cabaret purifié par leur piété, pour y célébrer le culte qui devait un jour étaler ses magnificences sous le dôme resplendissant de Saint-Pierre."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 318.

The church was rebuilt in 340 by Julius I., and after a series of alterations was again almost entirely reconstructed in 1139 by Innocent II., as a thanksgiving offering for the submission of the anti-pope. Eugenius III. (1145—50) finished what was left uncompleted, but the new basilica was not consecrated till the time of Innocent III. (1198—1216). The tower, apse, tribune, and mosaics belong to the early restoration; the rest is due to alterations made by Bernardino Rossellini for Nicholas V.

The west façade is covered with mosaics; the upper part—representing the Saviour throned between angels—and the lower—of palms, the twelve sheep, and the mystic cities—are additions by Pius IX. in 1869. The central frieze was begun in the twelfth century under Eugenius III., and completed in the fourteenth by Pietro Cavallini. It represents the Virgin and Child enthroned in the midst, and ten female figures, generally described as the Ten Virgins,—but Hemans remarks:

"It is evident that such subject cannot have been in the artist's thoughts, as each stately figure advances towards the throne with the same devout aspect and graceful serenity, the same faith and confidence; the sole observable distinctions being that the two with unlit lamps are somewhat more matronly, their costumes simpler, than is the case with the rest; and that instead of being crowned, as are the others, these two wear veils. Explanation of such attributes may be found in the mystic meaning—the light being appropriate to virgin saints, the oil taken to signify benevolence or almsgiving; and we may conclude that those without light represent wives or widows, the others virgin saints, in this group. Two other diminutive figures (the scale indicating humility), who kneel at the feet of Mary, are Innocent II. and Eugenius III., both vested in the pontifical mantle, but bareheaded. Originally the Mother and Child alone had the nimbus around the head, as we see in a water-colour drawing from this original (now in the Barberini Library) dated 1640, made before a renovation by which that halo has been given alike to all the female figures. Another much faded mosaic, the Madonna and Child, under an arched canopy, high up on the campanile, may perhaps be as ancient as those on the façade."—Mediæval Christian Art.

The portico contains two frescoes of the Annunciation, one of them ascribed to Cavallini. Its walls are occupied by early Christian and pagan inscriptions. One, of the time of Trajan, is regarded with peculiar interest: "MARCUS COCCEUS LIB. AUG. AMBROSIUS PRÆPOSITUS, VESTIS ALBÆ, TRIUMPHALIS, FECIT, NICE CONJUGI SUÆ CUM QUA VIXIT ANNOS XXXXV., DIEBUS XI., SINE ULLA QUERELA." Between the doors is preserved a curious relic—the stone said to have been attached to St. Calixtus when he was thrown into the well. The interior is that of a basilica. The nave, paved with opus-alexandrinum, is divided from the aisles by twenty-two ancient granite columns, whose Ionic capitals are in several instances decorated with heads of pagan gods. They support a richly-decorated architrave. The roof, in the centre of which is a picture of the Assumption of the Virgin, is painted by Domenichino. On the right of the entrance is a ciborium by Mino da Fiesole. The high altar covers a confessional, beneath which are the remains of five early popes, removed from the catacombs. Among the tombs are those of the painters, Lanfranco and Ciro Ferri, and of Bastari, librarian of the Vatican, editor of the dictionary of the Della Cruscan Academy, and canon of this church, ob. 1775.

Pope Innocent II. is buried here without a tomb.

In the left transept is a beautiful gothic tabernacle over an altar, erected by Cardinal d'Alençon, nephew of Charles de Valois, and brother of Philippe le Bel. On one side is the tomb of that cardinal (the fresco represents the martyrdom of his patron St. Philip, who is pourtrayed as crucified with his head downwards like St. Peter); on the other is the monument of Cardinal Stefaneschi, by Paolo, one of the first sculptors of the fourteenth century. Opening from hence is a chapel, which has a curious picture of the Council of Trent by Taddeo Zucchero. At the end of the right aisle are several more fine tombs of the sixteenth century, and the chapel of the Madonna di Strada Cupa, designed by Domenichino, from whose hand is the figure of a child scattering flowers, sketched out in one corner of the vaulting.

The upper part of the tribune is adorned with magnificent mosaics, (restored in modern times by Camuccini,) of the time of Innocent II.

"In the centre of the principal group on the vault is the Saviour, seated, with his Mother, crowned and robed like an Eastern Queen, beside him, both sharing the same gorgeous throne and footstool; while a hand extends from a fan-like glory with a jewelled crown held over his head; she (a singular detail here) giving benediction with the usual action; He embracing her with the left arm, and in the right hand holding a tablet that displays the words 'Veni, electa mea, et ponam in thronum meum;' to which corresponds the text, from the song of Solomon, on a tablet in her left hand, 'Læva ejus sub capite meo et dextera illius amplexabitur me.' Below the heavenly throne stand, each with name inscribed in gold letters, Innocent II., holding a model of this church; St. Laurence, in deacon's vestments, with the Gospels and the jewelled cross; the sainted popes, Calixtus I., Cornelius, and Julius I.; St. Peter (in classic white vestments), and Calepodius, a martyr of the third century, here introduced because his body, together with those of the other saints in the same group, was brought from the catacombs to this church.

"As to ecclesiastical costume, this work affords decisive evidence of its ancient splendour and varieties. We do not see the keys in the hands of St. Peter, but the large tonsure on his head; that ecclesiastical badge which he is said to have invented, and which is sometimes the sole peculiarity (besides the ever-recognisable type) given to this Apostle in art.

"Above the archivolt we see a cross between the Alpha and Omega, and the winged emblems of the Evangelists; laterally, Jeremiah and Isaiah, each with a prophetic text on a scroll; along a frieze below, twelve sheep advancing from the holy cities, Jerusalem and Bethlehem, towards the Divine Lamb, who stands on a mount whence issue the four rivers of Paradise—or, according to perhaps juster interpretation, the four streams of gospel truth. Palms and a phœnix are seen beside the two prophets; also a less common symbol—caged birds, that signify the righteous soul incarcerated in the body, or (with highest reference) the Saviour in his assumed humanity; such accessory reminding of the ancient usage, in some countries, of releasing birds at funerals, and of that still kept up amidst the magnificent canonization-rites, of offering various kinds of birds, in cages, at the papal throne.

"Remembering the date of the composition before us, about a century and a half before the time of Cimabue and Giotto, we may hail in it, if not an actual Renaissance, the dawn, at least, that heralds a brighter day for art, compared with the deep gloom previous."—Hemans' Mediæval Christian Art.

Below these are another series of mosaics representing six scenes in the life of the Virgin, the work of Pietro Cavallini, of the thirteenth century, when they were ordered by Bertoldo Stefaneschi, who is himself introduced in one of the subjects. In the centre of the tribune is an ancient marble episcopal throne, raised by a flight of steps.

In the Sacristy is a picture of the Virgin with S. Rocco and S. Sebastiano, by Perugino. Here are preserved some beautiful fragments of mosaics of birds, &c., from the catacombs.

Outside the right transept of Sta. Maria is a picturesque shrine, and there are many points about this ancient church which are interesting to the artist. The palace, which forms one side of the piazza at the west end of the church, formerly Palazzo Moroni, is now used as the summer residence of the Benedictine monks of S. Paolo, who are driven from their convent by the malaria during the hot months. During the revolutionary government of 1848—49, a number of priests suffered death here, which has led to the monastery being regarded as "the Carmes of Rome." The modern Church of S. Calisto contains the well in which he suffered martyrdom, A.D. 222. This well, now seen through a door near the altar, was then in the open air, and the pope was thrown into it from the window of a house in which he had been imprisoned and scourged, and where he had converted the soldier who was appointed to guard him. His festival is celebrated here with great splendour by the monks.

Opposite S. Calisto is the Monastery of St. Anna, in which were passed the last days of the beautiful and learned Vittoria Colonna. As her death approached she was removed to the neighbouring house of her kinsman Giuliano Cesarini, and there she expired (February, 1547) in the presence of her devoted friend, Michael Angelo, who always regretted that he had not in that solemn moment ventured to press his lips for the first and last time to her beautiful countenance. She was buried, by her own desire, in the convent chapel, without any monument.

Hence a lane leads to the Church of S. Cosimato, in an open space facing the hill of S. Rietro in Montorio (where stands of seats are placed during the Girandola). A courtyard is entered through a low arch supported by two ancient columns, having a high roof with rich terra-cotta mouldings,—beautiful in colour. The court contains an antique fountain, and is exceedingly picturesque. The church has carefully sculptured details of cornice and moulding; the door is a good specimen of mediæval wood-carving. The wall on the left of the altar is occupied by a most beautiful fresco of Pinturicchio, representing St. Francis and St. Clare standing on either side of the Virgin and Child. Opening from the end of the left aisle is a very interesting chapel, decorated with frescoes, and containing a most beautiful altar of the fifteenth century, in honour of the saints Severa and Fortunata, with statuettes of Faith, Justice, Charity, and Hope. Attached to the church is a very large convent of Poor Clares, which produced two saints, Theodora and Seraphina, in the fifteenth century.

Following the Via della Scala, on the south side of Sta. Maria in Trastevere, we reach the Porta Settimiana, built by Alexander VI. on the site of a gateway raised by Honorius, which marked the position of an arch of Septimius Severus. This is the entrance of the Via Lungara, containing the Corsini and Farnesina Palaces (see Chapter XX.). The gateway has forked battlements, but is much spoilt by recent plasterings. Near this is Sta. Dorotea, an ugly church, but important in church history from its connection with the foundation of the Order of the Theatins, which arose out of a revulsion from the sensuous age of Leo X.; and as containing the tomb of their founder, Don Gaëtano di Teatino, the friend of Paul IV.

"Dès le règne de Léon X., quelques symptômes d'une réaction religieuse se manifestèrent dans les hautes classes de la société romaine. On vit un certain nombre d'hommes éminents s'affilier les uns aux autres, afin de trouver dans de saintes pratiques assez de force pour résister à l'atmosphère énervante qui les entourait. Ils prirent pour leur association le titre et les emblèmes de l'amour divin, et ils s'assemblèrent, à des jours déterminés, dans l'église de Sainte-Dorothée, près de la porte Settimiana. Parmi ces hommes de foi et d'avenir, on citait un archevêque, Caraffa; un protonotaire apostolique, Gaëtan de Thiène; un noble Vénitien aussi distingué par son caractére que par ses talents, Contarini; et cinquante autres dont les noms rappellaient tons, ou une illustration ou une haute position sociale, tels que Lippomano, Sadolet, Ghiberti.

"Mais bientôt ces premiers essais de rupture avec la tendance générale des esprits enflammèrent le zèle de plusieurs des membres de la Congrégation de l'Amour divin. Caraffa surtout, dont l'âme ardente n'avait trouvé qu'anxiétés et fatigue dans les grandeurs, aspirait à une vie d'action qui lui permit de s'employer, de tous ses moyens, à la réforme du monde. Il trouva dans Gaëtan de Thiène des dispositions conformes à ce qu'il désirait. Gaëtan avait cependant un caractère très-différent du sien; doué d'une angélique douceur, craignant de se faire entendre, recherchant la méditation et la retraite, il eût voulu, lui aussi, réformer le monde, mais il n'eût pas voulu en être connu. Les qualités diverses de ces deux hommes rares se combinèrent heureusement dans l'exécution du projet qu'ils avaient conçu, c'était de former des ecclésiastiques voués, tout ensemble à la contemplation et à une vie austère, à la prédication et au soin des malades; des ecclésiastiques qui donnassent partout au clergé l'exemple de l'accomplissement des devoirs de sa sainte mission."—Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne, ii. 157.

"When Dorothea, the maiden of Cæsarea, was condemned to death by Sapritius, she replied, 'Be it so, then I shall the sooner stand in the presence of Christ, my spouse, in whose garden are the fruits of paradise, and roses that never fade.' As she was being led to execution, the young Theophilus mocking said, 'O maiden, goest thou to join thy bridegroom? send me then, I pray thee, of the fruits and flowers which grow in his garden.' And the maiden bowed her head and smiled, saying, 'Thy request is granted, O Theophilus,' whereat he laughed, and she went forward to death.

"And behold, at the place of execution, a beautiful child, with hair like the sunbeam, stood beside her, and in his hand was a basket containing three fresh roses and three apples. And she said, 'Take these to Theophilus, and tell him that Dorothea waits for him in the garden from whence they came.'

"And the child sought Theophilus, and gave him the flowers and the fruits, saying, 'Dorothea sends thee these,' and vanished. And the heart of Theophilus melted, and he ate of the fruit from heaven, and was converted and professed himself one of Christ's servants, so that he also was martyred, and was translated into the heavenly garden."—Legend.

This story is told in nearly all the pictures of Sta. Dorotea.

Hence we reach the Ponte Sisto, built 1473—75 by Sixtus IV. in the place of the Pons Janiculensis, (or, according to Ampère, the Pons Antoninus,) which Caracalla had erected to reach the garden in the Trastevere, formerly belonging to his brother Geta,—but which was known as the Pons Fractus after a flood had destroyed part of it in 792. The Acts of Eusebius describe the many Christian martyrdoms which took place from this bridge. S. Symphorosa under Hadrian, S. Sabas under Aurelian, S. Calepodius under Alexander, and S. Anthimius under Diocletian, were thrown into the Tiber from hence, with many others, whose bodies, usually drifting to the island then called Lycaonia, were recovered there by their faithful disciples.[362] An inscription upon the bridge begs the prayers of the passengers for its papal founder.

Beautiful views may be obtained from this bridge,—on the one side, of the island, of the temple of Vesta, and the Alban hills; on the other, of St. Peter's, rising behind the Farnesina Gardens, and the grand mass of the Farnese Palace, towering above the less important buildings.

"They had reached the bridge and stopped to look at the view, perhaps the most beautiful of all those seen from the Roman bridges. Looking towards the hills, the Tiber was spanned by Ponte Rotto, under which the old black mills were turning ceaselessly, almost level with the tawny water; the sunshine fell full on the ruins of the Palatine, about the base of which had gathered a crowd of modern buildings; a brick campanile, of the middle ages, rose high above them against the blue sky, which was seen through its open arches; beyond were the Latin Hills; on the other hand, St. Peter's stood pre-eminent in the distance; nearer, a stack of picturesque old houses were half hidden by orange-trees, where golden fruit clustered thickly; women leant from the windows, long lines of flapping clothes hung out to dry; below, the ferry-boat was crossing the river, impelled by the current. Modern and ancient Rome all mingled together—everywhere were thrilling names connected with all that was most glorious in the past. The moderns are richer than their ancestors, the past is theirs as well as the present."—Mademoiselle Mori.

Close to the further entrance of the bridge, opposite the Via Giulia, is the Fountain of the Ponte Sisto, built by Paul V. from a design of Fontana. The water, which falls in one body from a niche in the wall of a palace, is discharged a second time from the mouths of two monsters below.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE TRE FONTANE AND S. PAOLO.

The Marmorata—Arco di S. Lazzaro—Protestant Cemetery—Pyramid of Caius Cestius—Monte-Testaccio—Porta S. Paolo—Chapel of the Farewell—The Tre Fontane (SS. Vincenzo ed Anastasio—Sta. Maria Scala Cœli—S. Paolo alle Tre Fontane)—Basilica and Monastery of S. Paolo.

BEYOND the Piazza Bocca della Verità, the Via della Marmorata is spanned by an arch which nearly marks the site of the Porta Trigemina, by which Marius fled to Ostia before Sylla in B.C. 88. Near this stood the statue erected by public subscription to Minucius, whose jealousy brought about the execution of the patriot Mælius, B.C. 440. Here also was the temple of Jupiter Inventor, whose dedication was attributed to the gratitude of Hercules for the restoration of his cattle, carried off by Cacus to his cave on the neighbouring Aventine.

It was at the Porta Trigemina that Camillus (B.C. 391), sent into exile to Ardea by the accusations of the plebs, stayed, and, stretching forth his hands to the Capitol, prayed to the gods who reigned there that if he was unjustly expelled, Rome might "one day have need of Camillus."

Passing the arch, the road skirts the wooded escarpment of the Aventine, crowned by its three churches—Sta. Sabina, S. Alessio, and the Priorato.

"De ce côté, entre l'Aventin et le Tibre, hors de la porte Trigemina, étaient divers marchés, notamment le marché aux bois, le marché à la farine et au pain, les horrea, magasins de blés. Le voisinage de ces marchés, de ces magasins et de l'emporium, produisait un grand mouvement de transport et fournissait de l'occupation à beaucoup de portefaix. Plaute[363] fait allusion à ces porteurs de sacs de la porte Trigemina. On peut en voir encore tous les jours remplir le même office au même lieu."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iv. 75.

From the landing-place for modern Carrara marble, a new road on the right, planted with trees, leads along the river to the ancient Marmorata, discovered 1867—68, when many magnificent blocks of ancient marble were found buried in the mud of the Tiber. Recent excavations have laid bare the inclined planes by which the marbles were landed, and the projecting bars of stone with rings for mooring the marble vessels.

In the neighbouring vineyard are the massive ruins of the Emporium, or magazine for merchandise, founded by M. Æmilius Lepidus and L. Æmilius Paulus, the ædiles in B.C. 186. Upon the ancient walls of this time is engrafted a small and picturesque winepress of the fifteenth century. The neighbouring vineyard is much frequented by marble collectors.

A short distance beyond the turn to the Marmorata the main road is crossed by an ancient brick arch, called Arco di S. Lazzaro, or Arco della Salara, by the side of which is a hermitage.

About half a mile beyond this we reach the Porta S. Paolo, built by Belisarius on the site of the Ancient Porta Ostiensis.

It was here, just within the Ostian Gate, that the Emperor Claudius, returning from Ostia to take vengeance upon Messalina, was met by their two children, Octavia and Britannicus, accompanied by a vestal, who insisted upon the rights of her Order, and imperiously demanded that the empress should not be condemned undefended.

"Totila entra par la porte Asinaria et une autre fois par la porte Ostiensis, aujourd'hui porte Saint-Paul; par la même porte, Genséric, que la mer apportait, et qui, en s'embarquant, avait dit à son pilote: 'Conduis-moi vers le rivage que menace la colère divine.'"—Ampère, Emp. ii. 325.

Close to this, is the famous Pyramid of Caius Cestius. It is built of brick, coated with marble, and is 125 feet high, and 100 feet wide at its square basement. In the midst is a small sepulchral chamber, painted with arabesques. Two inscriptions on the exterior show that the Caius Cestius buried here was a prætor, a tribune of the people, and one of the "Epulones" appointed to provide the sacrificial feasts of the gods. He died about 30 B.C., leaving Agrippa as his executor, and desiring by his will that his body might be buried, wrapped up in precious stuffs. Agrippa, however, applied to him the law which forbade luxurious burial, and spent the money, partly upon the pyramid and partly upon erecting two colossal statues in honour of the deceased, of which the pedestals have been found near the tomb. In the middle ages this was supposed to be the sepulchre of Remus.

"Cette pyramide, sauf les dimensions, est absolument semblable aux pyramides d'Égypte. Si l'on pouvait encore douter que celles-ci étaient des tombeaux, l'imitation des pyramides égyptiennes dans un tombeau romain serait un argument de plus pour prouver qu'elles avaient une destination funéraire. La chambre qu'on a trouvée dans le monument de Cestius était décorée de peintures dont quelques unes ne sont pas encore effacées. C'était la coutume des peuples anciens, notamment des Egyptiens et des Etrusques, de peindre l'intérieur des tombeaux, que l'on fermait ensuite soigneusement. Ces peintures, souvent très-considérables, n'étaient que pour le mort, et ne devaient jamais être vues par l'œil d'un vivant. Il en était certainement ainsi de celles qui décoraient la chambre sépulchrale de la pyramide de Cestius, car cette chambre n'avait aucune entrée. L'ouverture par laquelle on y pénètre aujourd'hui est moderne. On avait déposé le corps ou les cendres avant de terminer le monument, on acheva ensuite de la bâtir jusqu'au sommet."—Ampère, Emp. i. 347.

"St. Paul was led to execution beyond the city walls, upon the road to Ostia. As he issued forth from the gate, his eyes must have rested for a moment on that sepulchral pyramid which stood beside the road, and still stands unshattered, amid the wreck of so many centuries, upon the same spot. That spot was then only the burial-place of a single Roman; it is now the burial-place of many Britons. The mausoleum of Caius Cestius rises conspicuously amongst humbler graves, and marks the site where Papal Rome suffers her Protestant sojourners to bury their dead. In England and in Germany, in Scandinavia and in America, there are hearts which turn to that lofty cenotaph as the sacred point of their whole horizon; even as the English villager turns to the grey church tower, which overlooks the grave-stones of his kindred. Among the works of man, that pyramid is the only surviving witness of the martyrdom of St. Paul; and we may thus regard it with yet deeper interest, as a monument unconsciously erected by a pagan to the memory of a martyr. Nor let us think they who lie beneath its shadow are indeed resting (as degenerate Italians fancy) in unconsecrated ground. Rather let us say, that a spot where the disciples of Paul's faith now sleep in Christ, so near the soil once watered by his blood, is doubly hallowed; and that their resting-place is most fitly identified with the last earthly journey, and the dying glance of their own patron saint, the apostle of the Gentiles."—Conybeare and Howson.

At the foot of the Pyramid is the Old Protestant Cemetery, a lovely spot, now closed. Here is the grave of Keats, with the inscription:

"This grave contains all that was mortal of a young English poet, who, on his death-bed, in the bitterness of his heart at the malicious power of his enemies, desired these words to be engraven on his tombstone: 'Here lies one whose name was writ in water.' February 24, 1821."

"Go thou to Rome—at once the paradise,

The grave, the city, and the wilderness;

And where its wrecks like shattered mountains rise,

And flowering weeds, and fragrant copses dress

The bones of desolation's nakedness,

Pass, till the spirit of the spot shall lead

Thy footsteps to a slope of green access,

Where, like an infant's smile, over the dead,

A light of laughing flowers along the grass is spread,

"And grey walls moulder round, on which dull Time

Feeds, like slow fire upon a hoary brand;

And one keen pyramid, with wedge sublime,

Pavilioning the dust of him who planned

This refuge for his memory, doth stand

Like flame transformed to marble; and beneath

A field is spread, on which a newer band

Have pitched in Heaven's smile their camp of death,

Welcoming him we lose with scarce extinguished breath."

Shelley's Adonais.

Very near the grave of Keats is that of Augustus William Hare, the elder of the two brothers who wrote the "Guesses at Truth," ob. 1834.

"When I am inclined to be serious, I love to wander up and down before the tomb of Caius Cestius. The Protestant burial-ground is there, and most of the little monuments are erected to the young—young men of promise, cut off when on their travels full of enthusiasm, full of enjoyment; brides, in the bloom of their beauty, on their first journey; or children borne from home in search of health. This stone was placed by his fellow-travellers, young as himself, who will return to the house of his parents without him; that, by a husband or a father, now in his native country. His heart is buried in that grave.

"It is a quiet and sheltered nook, covered in the winter with violets; and the pyramid, that overshadows it, gives it a classic and singularly solemn air. You feel an interest there, a sympathy you were not prepared for. You are yourself in a foreign land; and they are for the most part your countrymen. They call upon you in your mother tongue—in English—in words unknown to a native, known only to yourself: and the tomb of Cestius, that old majestic pile, has this also in common with them. It is itself a stranger among strangers. It has stood there till the language spoken round about it has changed; and the shepherd, born at the foot, can read the inscription no longer."—Rogers.

The New Burial Ground was opened in 1825. It extends for some distance along the slope of the hill under the old Aurelian Wall, and is beautifully shaded by cypresses, and carpeted with violets. Amid the forest of tombs we may notice that which contains the heart of Shelley (his body having been burnt upon the shore at Lerici, where it was thrown up by the sea), inscribed:

"Percy Bysshe Shelley, Cor Cordium. Natus IV. Aug. MDCCXCII. Obiit VIII. Jul. MDCCCXXII.

'Nothing of him that doth fade,

But doth suffer a sea change

Into something rich and strange.'"

Another noticeable tomb is that of Gibson the sculptor, who died 1868.

From the fields in front of the cemetery (Prati del Popolo Romano) rises the Monte Testaccio, only 160 feet in height, but worth ascending for the sake of the splendid view it affords. The extraordinary formation of this hill, which is entirely composed of broken pieces of pottery, has long been an unexplained bewilderment.

"Le Monte-Testaccio est pour moi des nombreux problèmes qu'offrent les antiquités romaines le plus difficile à résoudre. On ne peut s'arrêter à discuter sérieusement la tradition d'après laquelle il aurait été formé avec les débris des vases contenant les tributs qu'apportaient à Rome les peuples soumis par elle. C'est là évidemment une légende du moyen âge née du souvenir de la grandeur romaine et imaginée pour exprimer la haute idée qu'on s'en faisait, comme on avait imaginé ces statues de provinces placées au Capitole, et dont chacune portait au cou une cloche qui sonnait tout-à-coup d'elle-même, quand une province se soulevait, comme on a prétendu que le lit du Tibre était pavé en airain par les tributs apportés aux empereurs romains. Il faut donc chercher une autre explication."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 386.

Just outside the Porta S. Paolo is (on the right) a vineyard which belonged to Sta. Francesca Romana (born 1384, canonized 1608 by Paul V.).

"Instead of entering into the pleasures to which her birth and riches entitled her, Sta. Francesca went every day, disguised in a coarse woollen garment, to her vineyard, and collected faggots, which she brought into the city on her head, and distributed to the poor. If the weight exceeded her womanly strength, she loaded therewith an ass, following after on foot in great humility."—Mrs. Jameson's Monastic Orders.

A straight road a mile and a half long leads from the gate to the basilica. Half way (on the left) is the humble chapel which commemorates the farewell of St. Peter and St. Paul on their way to martyrdom, inscribed:

"In this place SS. Peter and Paul separated on their way to martyrdom.

"And Paul said to Peter, 'Peace be with thee, Foundation of the Church, Shepherd of the flock of Christ.'

"And Peter said to Paul, 'Go in peace, Preacher of good tidings, and Guide of the salvation of the just.'"[364]

Passing the basilica, which looks outside like a very ugly railway station, let us visit the scene of the martyrdom, before entering the grand church which arose in consequence.

The road we now traverse is the scene of the legend of Plautilla.

"St. Paul was beheaded by the sword outside the Ostian gate, about two miles from Rome, at a place called the Aqua Salvias, now the 'Tre Fontane.' The legend of his death relates that a certain Roman matron named Plautilla, one of the converts of St. Peter, placed herself on the road by which St. Paul passed to his martyrdom, to behold him for the last time; and when she saw him she wept greatly, and besought his blessing. The apostle then, seeing her faith, turned to her, and begged that she would give him her veil to blind his eyes when he should be beheaded, promising to return it to her after his death. The attendants mocked at such a promise, but Plautilla, with a woman's faith and charity, taking off her veil, presented it to him. After his martyrdom, St. Paul appeared to her, and restored the veil stained with his blood.

"In the ancient representations of the martyrdom of St. Paul, the legend of Plautilla is seldom omitted. In the picture by Giotto in the sacristy of St. Peter's, Plautilla is seen on an eminence in the background, receiving the veil from the hands of St. Paul, who appears in the clouds above; the same representation, but little varied, is executed in bas-relief on the bronze doors of St. Peter's."—Jameson's Sacred Art.

The lane which leads to the Tre Fontane turns off to the left a little beyond S. Paolo.

"In all the melancholy vicinity of Rome, there is not a more melancholy spot than the Tre Fontane. A splendid monastery, rich with all the offerings of Christendom, once existed there: the ravages of that mysterious scourge of the Campagna, the malaria, have rendered it a desert; three ancient churches and some ruins still exist, and a few pale monks wander about the swampy dismal confines of the hollow in which they stand. In winter you approach them through a quagmire; in summer, you dare not breathe in their pestilential vicinity; and yet there is a sort of dead beauty about the place, something hallowed as well as sad, which seizes on the fancy."—Jameson's Sacred Art.

The convent was bestowed in 1867 by Pius IX. upon the French Trappists, and twelve brethren of the Order went to reside there. Entering the little enclosure, the first church on the right is Sta. Maria Scala Cœli, supposed to occupy the site of the cemetery of S. Zeno, in which the 12,000 Christians employed in building the Baths of Diocletian were buried. The present edifice was the work of Vignola and Giacomo della Porta in 1582. The name is derived from the legend that here St. Bernard had a vision of a ladder which led to heaven, its foot resting on this church, and of angels on the ladder leading upwards the souls whom his prayers had redeemed from purgatory. The mosaics in the apse were the work of F. Zucchero, in the sixteenth century, and are perhaps the best of modern mosaics. They represent the saints Zeno, Bernard, Vincenzo, and Anastasio, adored by Pope Clement VIII. and Cardinal Aldobrandini, under whom the remodelling of the church took place.

The second church is the basilica of SS. Vincenzo ed Anastasio, founded by Honorius I. (625), and restored by Honorius III. (1221), when it was consecrated afresh. It is approached by an atrium with a penthouse roof, supported by low columns, and adorned with decaying frescoes, among which the figure of Honorius III. may be made out. The interior, which reeks with damp, is almost entirely of the twelfth century. The pillars are adorned with coarse frescoes of the apostles.

"S. Vincenzo alle Tre Fontane so far deviates from the usual basilican arrangement as almost to deserve the appellation of gothic. It has the same defect as all the rest—its pier arches being too low, for which there is no excuse here; but both internally and externally it shows a uniformity of design, and a desire to make every part ornamental, that produces a very pleasing effect, although the whole is merely of brick, and ornament is so sparingly applied as only just to prevent the building sinking to the class of mere utilitarian erections."—Fergusson's Handbook of Architecture, vol. ii.

The two saints whose relics are said to repose here were in no wise connected in their lifetime. S. Vincenzo, who suffered A.D. 304, was a native of Saragossa, cruelly tortured to death at Valencia, under Dacian, by being racked on a slow fire over a gridiron, "of which the bars were framed like scythes." His story is told with horrible detail by Prudentius. Anastasius, who died A.D. 628, was a native of Persia, who had become a Christian and taken the monastic habit at a convent near Jerusalem. He was tortured and finally strangled, under Chosroes, at Barsaloe, in Assyria. He is not known to be represented anywhere in art, save in the almost obliterated frescoes in the atrium of this church.

The third church, S. Paolo alle Tre Fontane, was built by Giacomo della Porta for Cardinal Aldobrandini in 1590. It contains the pillars to which St. Paul is said to have been bound, the block of marble upon which he is supposed to have been beheaded, and the three fountains which sprang forth, wherever the severed head struck the earth during three bounds which it made after decapitation. In proof of this story, it is asserted that the water of the first of these fountains is still warm, of the second tepid, of the third cold. Three modern altars above the fountains are each decorated with a head of the apostle in bas-relief.

"A la première, l'âme vient à l'instant même de s'échapper du corps. Ce chef glorieux est plein de vie! A la seconde, les ombres de la mort couvrent déjà ses admirables traits; à la troisième, le sommeil éternel les a envahis, et, quoique demeurés tout rayonnants de beauté, ils disent, sans parler, que dans ce monde ces lèvres ne s'entr'ouvriront plus, et que ce regard d'aigle s'est voilé pour toujours."—Une Chrétienne à Rome.[365]

The pavement is an ancient mosaic representing the Four Seasons, brought from the excavations at Ostia. The interior of this church has been beautified at the expense of a French nobleman, and the whole enclosure of the Tre Fontane has been improved by Mgr. de Merode.

"As the martyr and his executioners passed on (from the Ostian gate), their way was crowded with a motley multitude of goers and comers between the metropolis and its harbour—merchants hastening to superintend the unlading of their cargoes—sailors eager to squander the profits of their last voyage in the dissipations of the capital—officials of the government charged with the administration of the provinces, or the command of the legions on the Euphrates or the Rhine—Chaldean astrologers—Phrygian eunuchs—dancing-girls from Syria, with their painted turbans—mendicant priests from Egypt, howling for Osiris—Greek adventurers, eager to coin their national cunning into Roman gold—representatives of the avarice and ambition, the fraud and lust, the superstition and intelligence, of the Imperial world. Through the dust and tumult of that busy throng, the small troop of soldiers threaded their way silently, under the bright sky of an Italian midsummer. They were marching, though they knew it not, in a procession more really triumphal than any they had ever followed, in the train of general or emperor, along the Sacred Way. Their prisoner, now at last and for ever delivered from captivity, rejoiced to follow his Lord 'without the gate.' The place of execution was not far distant, and there the sword of the headsman ended his long course of sufferings, and released that heroic soul from that feeble body. Weeping friends took up his corpse, and carried it for burial to those subterranean labyrinths, where, through many ages of oppression, the persecuted Church found refuge for the living, and sepulchres for the dead.

"Thus died the apostle, the prophet, and the martyr, bequeathing to the Church, in her government, and her discipline, the legacy of his apostolic labours; leaving his prophetic words to be her living oracles; pouring forth his blood to be the seed of a thousand martyrdoms. Thenceforth, among the glorious company of the apostles, among the goodly fellowship of the prophets, among the noble army of martyrs, his name has stood pre-eminent. And wheresoever the holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge God, there Paul of Tarsus is revered, as the great teacher of a universal redemption and a catholic religion—the herald of glad tidings to all mankind."—Conybeare and Howson.

Let us now return to the grand Basilica which arose to commemorate the martyrdom on this desolate site, and which is now itself standing alone on the edge of the Campagna, entirely deserted except by a few monks who linger in its monastery through the winter months, but take flight to St. Calisto before the pestilential malaria of the summer,—though in the middle ages it was not so, when S. Paolo was surrounded by the flourishing fortified suburb of Joanopolis (so called from its founder, John VIII.), whose possession was sharply contested in the wars between the popes and anti-popes.[366]

The first church on this site was built in the time of Constantine, on the site of the vineyard of the Roman matron Lucina, where she first gave a burial-place to the apostle. This primal oratory was enlarged into a basilica in 386 by the emperors Valentinian II. and Theodosius. The church was restored by Leo III. (795—816), and every succeeding century increased its beauty and magnificence. The sovereigns of England, before the Reformation, were protectors of this basilica—as those of France are of St. John Lateran, and of Spain of Sta. Maria Maggiore—and the emblem of the Order of the Garter may still be seen amongst its decorations.

"The very abandonment of this huge pile, standing in solitary grandeur on the banks of the Tiber, was one source of its value. While it had been kept in perfect repair, little or nothing had been done to modernize it, and alter its primitive form and ornaments, excepting the later addition of some modern chapels above the transept; it stood naked and almost rude, but unencumbered with the lumpish and tasteless plaster encasement of the old basilica in a modern Berninesque church, which had disfigured the Lateran cathedral under pretence of supporting it. It remained genuine, though bare, as S. Apollinare in Classe, at Ravenna, the city eminently of unspoiled basilicas. No chapels, altars, or mural monuments softened the severity of its outlines; only the series of papal portraits, running round the upper line of the walls, redeemed this sternness. But the unbroken files of columns along each side, carried the eye forward to the great central object, the altar and its 'Confession;' while the secondary row of pillars, running behind the principal ones, gave depth and shadow, mass and solidity, to back up the noble avenue along which one glanced."—Cardinal Wiseman.

On the 15th of July, 1823, this magnificent basilica was almost totally destroyed by fire, on the night which preceded the death of Pope Pius VII.

"Quelque-chose de mystérieux s'est lié dans l'esprit des Romains à l'incendie de St. Paul, et les gens à l'imagination de ce peuple parlent avec ce sombre plaisir qui tient à la mélancolie, ce sentiment si rare en Italie, et si fréquent en Allemagne. Dans le grand nef, sur le mur, au dessus des colonnes, se trouvait la longue suite des portraits de tous les papes, et le peuple de Rome voyait avec inquiétude qu'il n'y avait plus de place pour le portrait du successeur de Pie VII. De là les fruits de la suppression du saint-siège. Le vénérable pontife, qui était presqu' un martyre aux yeux de ses sujets, touchait à ses derniers moments lorsqu'arriva l'incendie de Saint-Paul. Il eut lieu dans la nuit du 15 au 16 Juillet, 1823; cette même nuit, le pape, presque mourant, fut agité par un songe, qui lui présentait sans cesse un grand malheur arrivé à l'église de Rome. Il s'éveilla en sursaut plusieurs fois, et demanda s'il n'était rien arrivé de nouveau. Le lendemain, pour ne pas aggraver son état, on lui cacha l'incendie, et il est mort après sans l'avoir jamais su."—Stendhal, ii. 94.

"Not a word was said to the dying Pius VII. of the destruction of St. Paul. For at St. Paul's he had lived as a quiet monk, engaged in study and in teaching, and he loved the place with the force of an early attachment. It would have added a mental pang to his bodily sufferings to learn the total destruction of that venerable sanctuary, in which he had drawn down by prayer the blessings of heaven on his youthful labour."—Wiseman, Life of Pius VII.

The restoration of the basilica was immediately begun, and a large contribution levied for the purpose from all Roman Catholic countries. In 1854 it was re-opened in its present form by Pius IX. Its exterior is below contempt; its interior, supported by eighty granite columns, is most striking and magnificent, but it is cold and uninteresting when compared with the ancient structure, "rich with inestimable remains of ancient art, and venerable from a thousand associations."[367]

If we approach the basilica by the door on the side of the monastery, we enter, first, a portico, containing a fine statue of Gregory XVI., and many fragments of the ancient mosaics, collected after the fire;—then, a series of small chapels which were not burnt, from the last of which ladies can look into the beautiful cloister of the twelfth century, which they are not permitted to enter, but which men may visit (through the sacristy), and inspect its various architectural remains, and a fine sarcophagus, adorned with reliefs of the story of Apollo and Marsyas.

The church is entered by the south end of the transept. Hence we look down upon the nave (306 feet long and 222 wide) with its four ranges of granite columns (quarried near the Lago Maggiore), surmounted by a mosaic series of portraits of the popes, each five feet in diameter,—most of them of course being imaginary. The grand triumphal arch which separates the transept from the nave is a relic of the old basilica, and was built by Galla-Placidia, sister of Honorius, in 440. On the side towards the nave it is adorned with a mosaic of Christ adored by the twenty-four elders, and the four beasts of the Revelation;—on that towards the transept by the figure of the Saviour, between St Peter and St. Paul.

It bears two inscriptions, the first:

"Theodosius cœpit,—perfecit Honorius aulam

Doctoris mundi sacratam corpore Pauli."

The other, especially interesting as the only inscription commemorating the great pope who defended Rome against Attila:

"Placidiæ pia mens operis decus homne (sic) paterni

Gaudet pontificis studio splendere Leonis."

The mosaics of the tribune, also preserved from the fire, were designed by Cavallini, a pupil of Giotto, in the thirteenth century, and were erected by Honorius III. They represent the Saviour with St. Peter and St Andrew on the right, and St Paul and St Luke on the left,—and beneath these twelve apostles and two angels. The Holy Innocents (supposed to be buried in this church!) are represented lying at the feet of our Saviour.

"In the mosaics of the old basilica of S. Paolo the Holy Innocents were represented by a group of small figures holding palms, and placed immediately beneath the altar or throne, sustaining the gospel, the cross, and the instruments of the passion of our Lord. Over these figures was the inscription, H. I. S. INNOCENTES."—Jameson's Sacred Art.

Beneath the triumphal arch stands the ugly modern baldacchino, which encloses the ancient altar canopy, erected, as its inscription tells us, by Arnolphus and his pupil Petrus, in 1285. In front is the "Confession," where the Apostle of the Gentiles is believed to repose. The baldacchino is inscribed:

"Tu es vas electionis,

Sancte Paule Apostole,

Prædicator veritatis

In universo mundo."

It is supported by four pillars of Oriental alabaster, presented by Mehemet Ali, pasha of Egypt. The altars of malachite, at the ends of the transepts, were given by the Emperor Nicholas of Russia.

"Les schismatiques et les mussulmans eux-mêmes sont venus rendre hommage à ce souverain de la parole, qui entraînait les peuples au martyre et subjuguait toutes les nations."—Une Chrétienne à Rome.

In a building so entirely modern, there are naturally few individual objects of interest. Among those saved[368] from the old basilica, is the magnificent paschal candlestick, covered with sculpture in high-relief. The altar at the south end of the transept has an altar-piece representing the Assumption, by Agricola, and statues of St. Benedict, Baini, and Sta. Scholastica, by Tenerani. Of the two chapels between this and the tribune, the first has a statue of St. Benedict by Tenerani; the second, the Cappella del Coro, was saved from the fire, and is by Carlo Maderno.

The altar at the north end of the transept is dedicated to St. Paul, and has a picture of his conversion, by Camuccini. At the sides are statues of St. Gregory by Laboureur and of S. Romualdo by Stocchi. Of the chapels between this and the tribune, the first, dedicated to St. Stephen, has a statue of the saint, by Rinaldi; the second is dedicated to St. Bridget (Brigitta Brahe), and contains the famous crucifix of Pietro Cavallini, which is said to have spoken to her in 1370.

"Not far from the chancel is a beautiful chapel, dedicated to St. Bridget, and ornamented with her statue in marble. During her residence in Rome, she frequently came to pray in this church; and here is preserved, as a holy relic, the cross from which, during her ecstatic devotion, she seemed to hear a voice proceeding."—Frederika Bremer.

The upper walls of the nave are decorated with frescoes by Galiardi, Podesti, and other modern artists.

The two great festivals of St. Paul are solemnly observed in this basilica upon January 25 and June 30, and that of the Holy Innocents upon December 28.

Very near S. Paolo, the main branch of the little river Almo, the "cursuque brevissimus Almo" of Ovid, falls into the Tiber. This is the spot where the priests of Cybele used to wash her statue and the sacred vessels of her temple, and to raise their loud annual lamentation for the death of her lover, the shepherd Atys:

"Est locus, in Tiberim quo lubricus influit Almo,

Et nomen magno perdit ab amne minor,

Illic purpurea canus cum veste sacerdos,

Almonis dominam sacraque lavit aquis."

Ovid, Fast. iv. 337.

"Phrygiæque matris Almo quà levat ferrum."

Martial, Ep. iii. 472.

"Un vieux prêtre de Cybèle, vêtu de pourpre, y lavait chaque année la pierre sacrée de Pessinunte, tandis que d'autres prêtres poussaient des hurlements, frappaient sur le tambour de basque qu'on place aux mains de Cybèle, soufflaient avec fureur dans les flûtes phrygiennes, et que l'on se donnait la discipline,—ni plus ni moins qu'on le fait encore dans l'église des Caravite,—avec des fouets garnis de petits cailloux ou d'osselets."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 145.

The Campagna on this side of Rome is perhaps more stricken by malaria than any other part, and is in consequence more utterly deserted. That this terrible scourge has followed upon the destruction of the villas and gardens which once filled the suburbs of Rome, and that it did not always exist here, is evident from the account of Pliny, who says:

"Such is the happy and beautiful amenity of the Campagna that it seems to be the work of a rejoicing nature. For truly so it appears in the vital and perennial salubrity of its atmosphere (vitalis ac perennis salubritatis cœli temperies), in its fertile plains, sunny hills, healthy woods, thick groves, rich varieties of trees, breezy mountains, fertility in fruits, vines, and olives, its noble flocks of sheep, abundant herds of cattle, numerous lakes, and wealth of rivers and streams pouring in upon its many seaports, in whose lap the commerce of the world lies, and which run largely into the sea as it were to help mortals."

Under the emperors, the town of Ostia (founded by Ancus Martius) reached such a degree of prosperity, that its suburbs are described as joining those of Rome, so that one magnificent street almost united the two. There is now, beyond S. Paolo, a road through a desert, only one human habitation breaking the utter solitude.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE VILLAS BORGHESE, MADAMA, AND MELLINI.

Protestant Churches—Villa Borghese—Raphael's Villa—Casino and Villa of Papa Giulio—(Claude's Villa—Arco-Oscuro—Acqua-Acetosa)—Chapel of St. Andrew—Ponte-Molle (Castle of Crescenza—Prima Porta—The Crimera—The Allia)—(The Via Cassia)—Villa Madama—Monte Mario—Villa Mellini—Porta Angelica.

IMMEDIATELY outside the Porta del Popolo, on the left, are the English and American churches.

"As to the position selected for these buildings, it is to be observed that, although restricted by the regulations of the Roman Catholic hierarchy to a locality outside the walls, the greatest possible attention has been paid to the convenience of the English, the great majority of whose dwelling-houses are in this immediate quarter. The English church in Rome, therefore, though nominally outside the walls, is really, as regards centrality, in the very heart of the city. The greatest possible facilities are afforded by the authorities to our countrymen in all matters relating to the establishment; and though the general behaviour of the Roman inhabitants is such as to render the precaution almost unnecessary, the protection of the police and military is invariably afforded during the hours of divine service.... Whatever be the disagreements on points of religious faith between Protestant and Catholic, there is at least one point of feeling in common between both in this respect; for the streets are tranquil, the shops are shut, the demeanour of the people is decent and orderly, and, notwithstanding the distance from England, Sunday feels more like a Sunday at Rome than in any other town in Europe."—Sir G. Head's "Tour in Rome."

The papal government of Rome had more tolerance for a religion which was not its own than that of the early emperors. Augustus refused to allow the performance of Egyptian rites within a mile of the city walls.

On the right of the Gate is the handsome entrance of the beautiful Villa Borghese, most liberally thrown open to the public on every day except Monday, when the Villa Doria is open.

"The entrance to the Villa Borghese is just outside the Porta del Popolo. Passing beneath that not very impressive specimen of Michael Angelo's architecture, a minute's walk will transport the visitor from the small uneasy lava stones of the Roman pavement, into broad, gravelled carriage drives, whence a little further stroll brings him to the soft turf of a beautiful seclusion. A seclusion, but seldom a solitude; for priest, noble, and populace, stranger and native, all who breathe the Roman air, find free admission, and come hither to taste the languid enjoyment of the day-dream which they call life.

"The scenery is such as arrays itself to the imagination when we read the beautiful old myths, and fancy a brighter sky, a softer turf, a more picturesque arrangement of venerable trees, than we find in the rude and untrained landscapes of the western world. The ilex-trees, so ancient and time-honoured are they, seem to have lived for ages undisturbed, and to feel no dread of profanation by the axe anymore than overthrow by the thunder-stroke. It has already passed out of their dreamy old memories that only a few years ago they were grievously imperilled by the Gauls' last assault upon the walls of Rome. As if confident in the long peace of their lifetime, they assume attitudes of evident repose. They lean over the green turf in ponderous grace, throwing abroad their great branches without danger of interfering with other trees, though other majestic trees grow near enough for dignified society, but too distant for constraint. Never was there a more venerable quietude than that which sleeps among their sheltering boughs; never a sweeter sunshine than that which gladdens the gentle bloom which these leafy patriarchs strive to diffuse over the swelling and subsiding lawns.

"In other portions of the grounds the stone pines lift their dense clumps of branches upon a slender length of stem, so high that they look like green islands in the air, flinging down a shadow upon the turf so far off that you scarcely know which tree has made it.

"Again, there are avenues of cypress, resembling dark flames of huge funeral candles, which spread dusk and twilight round about them instead of cheerful radiance. The more open spots are all a-bloom, early in the season, with anemones of wondrous size, both white and rose-coloured, and violets that betray themselves by their rich fragrance, even if their blue eyes fail to meet your own. Daisies, too, are abundant, but larger than the modest little English flower, and therefore of small account.

"These wooded and flowery lawns are more beautiful than the finest English park scenery, more touching, more impressive, through the neglect that leaves nature so much to her own ways and methods. Since man seldom interferes with her, she sets to work in her quiet way and makes herself at home. There is enough of human care, it is true, bestowed long ago, and still bestowed, to prevent wildness from growing into deformity; and the result is an ideal landscape, a woodland scene that seems to have been projected out of the poet's mind. If the ancient Faun were other than a mere creation of old poetry, and could reappear anywhere, it must be in such a scene as this.

"In the openings of the wood there are fountains plashing into marble basons, the depths of which are shaggy with water-weeds; or they tumble like natural cascades from rock to rock, sending their murmur afar, to make the quiet and silence more appreciable. Scattered here and there with careless artifice, stand old altars, bearing Roman inscriptions. Statues, grey with the long corrosion of even that soft atmosphere, half hide and half reveal themselves, high on pedestals, or perhaps fallen and broken on the turf. Terminal figures, columns of marble or granite porticoes and arches, are seen in the vistas of the wood-paths, either veritable relics of antiquity, or with so exquisite a touch of artful ruin on them that they are better than if really antique. At all events, grass grows on the tops of the shattered pillars, and weeds and flowers root themselves in the chinks of the massive arches and fronts of temples, as if this were the thousandth summer since their winged seeds alighted there.

"What a strange idea—what a needless labour—to construct artificial ruins in Rome, the native soil of ruin! But even these sportive imitations, wrought by man in emulation of what time has done to temples and palaces, are perhaps centuries old, and, beginning as illusions, have grown to be venerable in sober earnest. The result of all is a scene, such as is to be found nowhere save in these princely villa-residences in the neighbourhood of Rome; a scene that must have required generations and ages, during which growth, decay, and man's intelligence wrought kindly together, to render it so gently wild as we behold it now.

"The final charm is bestowed by the malaria. There is a piercing, thrilling, delicious kind of regret in the idea of so much beauty being thrown away, or only enjoyable at its half-development, in winter and early spring, and never to be dwelt amongst, as the home scenery of any human being. For if you come hither in summer, and stray through these glades in the golden sunset, fever walks arm-in-arm with you, and death awaits you at the end of the dim vista. Thus the scene is like Eden in its loveliness; like Eden, too, in the fatal spell that removes it beyond the scope of man's actual possessions."—Transformation.

"Oswald et Corinne terminèrent leur voyage de Rome par la Villa-Borghèse, celui de tous les jardins et de tous les palais romains où les splendeurs de la nature et des arts sont rassemblées avec le plus de goût et d'éclat. On y voit des arbres de toutes les espèces et des eaux magnifiques. Une réunion incroyable de statues, de vases, de sarcophages antiques, se mêlent avec la fraîcheur de la jeune nature du sud. La mythologie des anciens y semble ranimée. Les naïades sont placées sur le bord des ondes, les nymphes dans les bois dignes d'elles, les tombeaux sous les ombrages élyséens; la statue d'Esculape est au milieu d'une île; celle de Vénus semble sortir des ondes; Ovide et Virgile pourraient se promener dans ce beau lieu; et se croire encore au siècle d'Auguste. Les chefs-d'œuvre de sculpture que renferme le palais, lui donnent une magnificence à jamais nouvelle. On aperçoit de loin à travers les arbres, la ville de Rome et Saint-Pierre, et la campagne, et les longues arcades, débris des aqueducs qui transportaient les sources des montagnes dans l'ancienne Rome. Tout est là pour la pensée, pour l'imagination, pour la rêverie.

"Les sensations les plus pures se confondent avec les plaisirs de l'âme, et donnent l'idée d'un bonheur parfait; mais quand on demande, pourquoi ce séjour ravissant n'est-il pas habité? l'on vous répond que le mauvais air (la cattiva aria) ne permet pas d'y vivre pendant l'été."—Madame de Staël.

The Casino, at the further end of the villa, built by Cardinal Scipio Borghese, the favourite nephew of Paul V., contains a collection of sculpture. The first room entered is a great hall, with a ceiling painted by Mario Rossi, and a floor paved with an ancient mosaic discovered at the Torre Nuova (one of the principal Borghese farms) in 1835.

"Cette mosaïque fort curieuse nous offre et les combats des gladiateurs entre eux et leurs luttes avec les animaux féroces. Cette mosaïque est d'un dessin aussi barbare que les scènes représentées; tout est en harmonie, le sujet et le tableau. Le sentiment de répulsion qu'inspire la cruauté romaine n'en est que plus complet; celle-ci n'est point adoucie par l'art et paraît dans toute sa laideur.

"On voit les gladiateurs poursuivre, s'attaquer, se massacrer, couverts d'armures qui ressemblent à celle des chevaliers: vous diriez une odieuse parodie du moyen âge. Dans le corps de l'un des combattants un glaive est enfoncé. Des cadavres sont gisant parmi les flaques de sang; à côté d'eux est le Θ fatal, initiale du mot grec Θἁνατος—à laquelle leur juge impitoyable, le peuple, les a condamnés; du grec partout. Le maître excite ses élèves on leur montrant le fouet et la palme; les vainqueurs élèvent leurs épées, et sans doute la foule applaudit. Ils ont un air de triomphe. Ce sont des acteurs renommés. Auprès de chacun son nom est écrit; ces noms barbares ou étranges: l'un s'appelle Buccibus, un autre Cupidor, un autre Licentiosus, avis effronté aux dames romaines."—Ampère, iv. 31.

The collection in this villa contains no exceedingly important statues. In the vestibule are some reliefs from the arch of Claudius in the Corso, destroyed in 1527. Leaving the great hall to the left we may notice:

1st Room.—

IN THE CENTRE:

Juno Pronuba, from Monte Calvi.

2nd Room.—

IN THE CENTRE:

A Fighting Amazon, on horseback.

3rd Room.—

4. Daphne changed into a Laurel.

13. Anacreon, seated.

"La statue d'Anacréon est très-remarquable, elle ressemble à la figure du poëte sur une médaille de Téos. Le style est simple et grandiose, l'expression énergique plutôt que gracieuse, la draperie est rude, la statue respire l'enthousiasme; ce n'est pas le faux Anacréon que nous connaissons et dont les poésies sont postérieures au moins en grande partie à la date du véritable; c'est le vieil et primitif Anacréon; cet Anacréon-là ne vit plus que dans cet énergique portrait, seule image de son inspiration véritable, dont les produits authentiques ont presque entièrement disparu."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 567.

4th Room.—

A handsome gallery with paintings by Marchetti and De Angelis, adorned with porphyry busts of the twelve Cæsars.

32. Bronze statue of a boy.

6th Room.—

IN THE CENTRE:

A Greek poet, probably Alcæus.

7. The Hermaphrodite; found near Sta. Maria Vittoria.

7th Room.—

IN THE CENTRE:

Boy on a Dolphin.

"D'autres statues peuvent dériver de la grande composition maritime de Scopas. Tel est la Palémon, assis sur un dauphin, de la villa Borghese, d'après lequel a été évidemment conçu le Jonas de l'église de Sainte-Marie du Peuple, qu'on attribue à Raphaël."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 284.

8th Room.—

1. Dancing Satyr.

The Upper Story, reached by a winding staircase from the Galleria, contains:

1st Room.—Three fine works by Bernini.

David with the sling: executed in his 18th year.

Apollo and Daphne.

Æneas carrying off Anchises: executed when the sculptor was only 15 years old.

2nd Room.—

Filled with a collection of portraits, for the most part unknown.

Worthy of attention are the portraits of Paul V. by Caravaggio, and of his father Marc-Antonio Borghese, attributed to Guido; also the busts of Paul V. and of Cardinal Scipio Borghese, who built the villa, by Bernini.

5th Room.—

Statue of Princess Pauline Borghese, sister of Napoleon I., by Canova, as Venus Victrix.

"Canova esteemed his statue of the Princess Borghese as one of his best works. No one else could have an opportunity of judging of it, for the prince, who certainly was not jealous of his wife's person, was so jealous of her statue, that he kept it locked up in a room in the Borghese Palace, of which he kept the key, and not a human being, not even Canova himself, could get access to it."—Eaton's Rome.

Canova took Chantrey to see this statue by night, wishing, as was his wont, to show it by the light of a single taper. Chantrey, wishing to do honour to the artist, insisted upon holding the taper for the best light himself, which gave rise to Moore's lines:

"When he, thy peer in art and fame,

Hung o'er the marble with delight;

And while his ling'ring hand would steal

O'er every grace the taper's rays,

Gave thee, with all the generous zeal

Such master-spirits only feel,

The best of fame—a rival's praise!"

In the upper part of the grounds, not far from the walls of Rome, stood the Villa Olgiati, once the Villa of Raphael. It contained three rooms ornamented with frescoes from the hand of the great master. The best of these are now preserved in a room at the end of the gallery in the Borghese Palace. The villa was destroyed during the siege of Rome in 1849, when many of the fine old trees were cut down on this side of the grounds.

"The Casino of Raphael was unfurnished, except with casks of wine, and uninhabited, except by a contadina. The chamber which was the bedroom of Raphael was entirely adorned with the work of his own hands. It was a small pleasant apartment, looking out on a little green lawn, fenced in with trees irregularly planted. The walls were covered with arabesques, in various whimsical and beautiful designs—such as the sports of children; Loves balancing themselves on poles, or mounted on horseback, full of glee and mirth; Fauns and Satyrs; Mercury and Minerva; flowers and curling tendrils, and every beautiful composition that could suggest itself to a classic imagination in its most sportive mood. The cornice was supported by painted Caryatides. The coved roof was adorned with four medallions, containing portraits of his mistress, the Fornarina—it seemed as if he took pleasure in multiplying that beloved object, so that wherever his eyes turned her image might meet them. There were three other paintings, one representing a Terminus with a target before it, and a troop of men shooting at it with bows and arrows which they had stolen from unsuspecting Cupid, lying asleep on the ground. The second represented a figure, apparently a god, seated at the foot of a couch, with an altar before him, in a temple or rotunda, and from the gardens which appeared in perspective through its open intercolumniations, were seen advancing a troop of gay young nymphs, bearing vases full of roses upon their heads.[369] ... The last and best of these paintings represented the nuptials of Alexander the Great and Roxana."—Eaton's Rome.

Just outside the Porta del Popolo, a small gate on the left of the Villa Borghese leads to the Villa Esmeade,—the property of an Englishman,—of considerable extent, and possessing beautiful views of Rome and the Sabine mountains from its heights, which are adorned with a few ancient statues and vases.

Unpleasantly situated near the gate of the Villa Borghese is the Pig-market. Fortunately the manner of pig-killing at Rome is not so noisy as that in northern countries. The throats of the animals are not cut, but they are pierced under the left shoulder with a long pointed bodkin, which kills them almost instantly—no blood flowing. In a very few minutes a whole pen-full of pigs can be stilettoed in this manner—indeed, for any one interested in farming matters, the slaughter of the Roman pigs is a sight worth seeing.

We now enter upon the ugly dusty road which leads in a straight line to the Milvian Bridge. By this road the last triumphal procession entered Rome—that of the Emperor Honorius and Stilicho (described by the poet Claudian) in A.D. 403—a whole century having then elapsed since the Romans had beheld their last triumph—that of Diocletian.

Under the line of hills (Monte Parioli) on the right of the road are the Catacombs of St. Valentine. On the other side, the same hills are undermined by the Catacombs of SS. Gianutus and Basilla.

Half a mile from the gate, rises conspicuously on the right of the road the Casino of Papa Giulio, with picturesque overhanging cornices and sculptured fountain. The courtyard has a quaint cloister. This is the "Villino," and, far behind, but formerly connected with it by a long corridor, is the Villa of Papa Giulio, containing several rooms with very richly decorated ceilings, painted by Taddeo Zucchero. Michael Angelo was consulted by the pope as to the building of this villa, and Vasari made drawings for it, but "the actual architect was Vignola, a modest genius, who had to suffer severely, together with all his fellow-workmen, from the tracasseries of the pope's favourite, the bishop Aliotti, whom the less-enduring Michael Angelo was wont to nickname Monsignor Tante Cose."

"The villa of Papa Giulio is still visited by the stranger. Restored to the presence of those times, he ascends the spacious steps to the gallery, whence he overlooks the whole extent of Rome, from Monte Mario, with all the windings of the Tiber. The building of this palace, the laying out of its gardens, were the daily occupation of Pope Julius III. The place was designed by himself, but was never completed: every day brought with it some new suggestion or caprice, which the architects must at once set themselves to realize. This pontiff desired to forward the interests of his family; but he was not inclined to involve himself in dangerous perplexities on their account. The pleasant blameless life of his villa was that which was best suited to him. He gave entertainments, which he enlivened with proverbial and other modes of expression, that sometimes mingled blushes with the smiles of his guests. In the important affairs of the Church and State, he took no other share than was absolutely inevitable. This Pope Julius died March 23, 1555."—Ranke's Hist. of the Popes.

"C'est uniquement comme protecteur des arts et comme prince magnifique que nous pouvons envisager Jules III. Sa mauvaise santé lui faisait rechercher le repos et les douceurs d'une vie grande et libre. Aussi avait-il fait édifier avec une sorte de tendresse paternelle cette belle villa, qui est célèbre, dans l'histoire de l'art, sous le nom de Vigne de pape Jules. Michel-Ange, Vasari, Vignole en avaient dessiné les profils; les nymphées et les fontaines étaient d'Ammanati; les peintures de Taddeo Zuccari. Du haut d'une galerie élégante on découvrait les sept collines, et d'ombreuses allées, tracées par Jules III., égaraient les pas du vieillard dans ce dédale de tertres et de vallées qui sépare le pont où périt Maxence de la ville éternelle."—Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne, ii. 172.

Pope Julius used to come hither, with all his court, from the Vatican by water. The richly-decorated barge, filled with venerable ecclesiastics, gliding between the osier-fringed banks of the yellow Tiber, with its distant line of churches and palaces, would make a fine subject for a picture.

Nearly opposite the Casino Papa Giulio, on the further bank of the Tiber, is the picturesque classic Villa of Claude Lorraine, whither he was wont to retire during the summer months, residing in the winter in the Tempietto at the head of the Trinità steps. This villa is best seen from the walk by the river-side, which is reached by turning at once to the left on coming out of the Porta del Popolo. Hence it makes a good foreground to the view of the city and distant heights of the Janiculan.

"This road is called 'Poussin's Walk,' because the great painter used to go along it from Rome to his villa near Ponte Molle. One sees here an horizon such as one often finds in Poussin's pictures."—Frederika Bremer.

Close to the Villa Papa Giulio is the tunnel called Arco Oscuro, passing which, a steep lane with a beautiful view towards St. Peter's, ascends between the hillsides of the Monte Parione, and descends on the other side (following the turn to the right) to the Tiber bank, about two miles from Rome, where is situated the Acqua Acetosa, a refreshing mineral spring like seltzer water, enclosed in a fountain erected by Bernini for Alexander VII. There is a lovely view from hence across the Campagna in the direction of Fidenæ (Castel Giubeleo) and the Tor di Quinto.

"A green hill, one of those bare table-lands so common in the Campagna, rises on the right. Ascend it to where a broad furrow in the slope seems to mark the site of an ancient road. You are on a plateau, almost quadrangular in form, rising steeply to the height of nearly two hundred feet above the Tiber, and isolated, save at one angle, where it is united to other high ground by a narrow isthmus. Not a tree—not a shrub on its turf-grown surface—not a house—not a ruin—not one stone upon another, to tell you that the site had been inhabited. Yet here once stood Antemnæ, the city of many towers,[370] one of the most ancient of Italy![371] Not a trace remains above ground. Even the broken pottery, that infallible indicator of bygone civilisation, which marks the site and determines the limits of habitation on many a now desolate spot of classic ground, is here so overgrown with herbage that the eye of an antiquary would alone detect it. It is a site strong by nature, and well adapted for a city, as cities then were; for it is scarcely larger than the Palatine Hill, which, though at first it embraced the whole of Rome, was afterwards too small for a single palace. It has a peculiar interest as one of the three cities of Sabina,[372] whose daughters, ravished by the followers of Romulus, became the mothers of the Roman race. Antemnæ was the nearest city to Rome—only three miles distant—and therefore must have suffered most from the inhospitable violence of the Romans."—Dennis' Cities of Etruria, ch. iii.

There is a walk—rather dangerous for carriages—by the river, from hence, to the Ponte Molle. Here Miss Bathurst was drowned by being thrown from her horse into the Tiber.

The river bank presents a series of picturesque views, though the yellow Tiber in no way reminds us of Virgil's description:

"Cæruleus Tybris cœlo gratissimus amnis."

Æn. viii. 64.

Continuing to follow the main road, on the left is the round Church of St. Andrew, with a Doric portico, built by Vignola, in 1527, to commemorate the deliverance of Clement VII. from the Germans.

Further, on the right, is another Chapel in honour of St. Andrew's Head.

"One of the most curious instances of relique worship occurred here in the reign of Æneas Sylvius, Pope Pius II. The head of St. Andrew was brought in stately procession from the fortress of Narni, whither, as the Turks invaded the Morea, it had been brought for safety from Patras. It was intended that the most glorious heads of St. Peter and St. Paul should go forth to meet that of their brother apostle. But the mass of gold which enshrined, the cumbrous iron which protected these reliques, was too heavy to be moved; so, without them, the pope, the cardinals, the whole population of Rome, thronged forth to the meadows near the Milvian Bridge. The pope made an eloquent address to the head, a hymn was sung entreating the saint's aid in the discomfiture of the Turks. It rested that day on the altar of Santa Maria del Popolo, and was then conveyed through the city, decorated with all splendour, to St. Peter's. Cardinal Bessarion preached a sermon, and the head was deposited with those of his brother apostles under the high-altar."—Milman's Latin Christianity.

A mile and a half from the gate, the Tiber is crossed by the Ponte Molle, built by Pius VII. in 1815, on the site and foundations of the Pons Milvius, which was erected B.C. 109 by the Censor M. Æmilius Scaurus. It was here that, on the night of December 3, B.C. 63, Cicero captured the emissaries of the Allobrogi, who were engaged in the conspiracy of Catiline. Hence, on October 27, A.D. 312, Maxentius was thrown into the river and drowned after his defeat by Constantine at the Saxa Rubra. It was on this occasion that the seven-branched candlestick of Jerusalem was dropped into the river, where it has probably ever since been embedded. The statues of Our Saviour and John the Baptist, at the further entrance of the bridge, are by Mochi.

Here are a number of taverns and Trattorie, much frequented by the lower ranks of the Roman people, and for which especial open omnibuses run from the Porta del Popolo. Similar places of public amusement seem to have existed here from imperial times. Ovid describes the people coming out hither in troops by the Via Flaminia to celebrate the fête of Anna Perenna, an old woman who supplied the plebs with cakes during the retreat to the Mons Sacer, but who afterwards, from a similitude of names, was confounded with Anna, sister of Dido.

"Idibus est Annæ festum geniale Perennæ,

Haud procul a ripis, advena Tibri, tuis.

Plebs venit, ac virides passim disjecta per herbas

Potat; et accumbit cum pare quisque sua.

Sub Jove pars durat; pauci tentoria ponunt;

Sunt, quibus e ramo frondea facta casa est:

Pars, ubi pro rigidis calamos statuere columnis,

Desuper extentas imposuere togas.

Sole tamen vinoque calent; annosque precantur,

Quot sumant cyathos, ad numerumque bibunt.

Inventes illic, qui Nestoris ebibat annos:

Quæ sit per calices facta Sibylla suos.

Illic et cantant, quidquid didicere theatris,

Et jactant faciles ad sua verba manus:

Et ducunt posito duras cratere choreas,

Multaque diffusis saltat amica comis.

Quum redeunt, titubant, et sunt spectacula vulgo,

Et fortunatos obvia turba vocat.

Occurri nuper. Visa est mihi digna relatu

Pompa: senem potum pota trahebat anus."

Fast. iii. 523.

Here three roads meet. That on the right is the old Via Flaminia, begun B.C. 220 by C. Flaminius the censor. This was the great northern road of Italy, which, issuing from the city by the Porta Ratumena, which was close to the tomb of Bibulus, followed a line a little east of the modern Corso, and passed the Aurelian wall by the Porta Flaminia, near the present Porta del Popolo. It extended to Ariminum (Rimini), a distance of 210 miles.[373]

(Following this road for about 1½ mile, on the left are the ruins called Tor di Quinto. A little further on the right of the road are some tufa-rocks, with an injured tomb of the Nasones. Following the valley under these rocks to the left we reach (1½ mile) the fine Castle of Crescenza, now a farmhouse, picturesquely situated on a rocky knoll,—once inhabited by Poussin, and reproduced in the background of many of his pictures. In the interior are some remains of ancient frescoes.

On this road, seven miles from Rome, is Prima Porta, where are the ruins of the Villa of Livia, wife of Augustus, and mother of Tiberius. When first opened, several small rooms in the villa, supposed to be baths, were covered with frescoes and arabesques in a state of the most marvellous beauty and preservation, but they are now greatly injured by damp and exposure. From the character of the paintings, a trellis-work of fruit and flowers, amid which birds and insects are sporting, it is supposed that they are the work of Ludius, described in Pliny, who "divi Augusti ætate primus instituit amœnissimam parietum picturam, villas et porticus ac topiaria opera, lucos, nemora ... blandissimo aspectu minimoque impendio." It was here that the magnificent statue of Augustus, now in the Braccio Nuovo of the Vatican, was discovered in 1863.

"What Augustus's affection for Livia was, is well known. 'Preserve the remembrance of a husband who has loved you very tenderly,' were the last words of the emperor, as he lay on his death-bed. And when asked how she contrived to retain his affection, Dion Cassius tells us that she replied, 'My secret is very simple: I have made it the study of my life to please him, and I have never manifested any indiscreet curiosity with regard to his public or private affairs.'"—Weld.

Just beyond this, the Tiber receives the little river Valca, considered to be identical with the Crimera. Hither the devoted clan of the Fabii, 4000 in number, retired from Rome, having offered to sustain, at their own cost and risk, the war which Rome was then carrying on against Veii. Here, because they felt a position within the city untenable on account of the animosity of their fellow-patricians, which had been excited by their advocacy of the agrarian law, and their popularity with the plebeians, they established themselves on a hillock overhanging the river, which they fortified, and where they dwelt for three years. At the end of that time the Veiientines, by letting loose herds of cattle like the Vaccine, which one still sees wandering in that part of the Campagna, drew them into an ambuscade, and they were all cut off to a man. According to Dionysius, a portion of the little army remained to guard the fort, and the rest fled to another hill, perhaps that now known as Vaccareccia. These were the last to be exterminated.

"They fought from dawn to sunset. The enemy slain by their hand formed heaps of corpses which barred their passage."—They were summoned to surrender, but they preferred to die.—"The people of Veii showered arrows and stones upon them from a distance, not daring to approach them again. The arrows fell like thick snow. The Fabii, with swords blunted by force of striking, with bucklers broken, continued to fight, snatching fresh swords from the hands of the enemy, and rushing upon them with the ferocity of wild beasts."—Dionysius, ix. 21.

A little beyond this, ten miles from Rome, is the stream Scannabecchi, which descends from the Crustuminian Hills, and is identical with the Allia, "infaustum Allia nomen," where the Romans were (B.C. 390) entirely defeated with great slaughter by the Gauls, before the capture of the city, in which the aged senators were massacred at the doors of their houses.

It was in the lands lying between the villa of Livia and the Tiber that Saxa Rubra[374] was situated, where Constantine (A.D. 312) gained his decisive victory over Maxentius, who, while attempting to escape over the Milvian Bridge, was pushed by the throng of fugitives into the Tiber, and perished, engulfed in the mud. The scene is depicted in the famous fresco of Giulio Romano, in the stanze of the Vatican.

On the opposite side of the river, Castel Giubeleo, on the site of the Etruscan Fidenæ, is a conspicuous object.)

(The direct road from the Ponte Molle is the ancient Via Cassia, which must be followed for some distance by those who make the interesting excursions to Veii, Galera, and Bracciano, each easily within the compass of a day's expedition. On the left of this road, three miles from Rome, is the fine sarcophagus of Publius Vibius Maximus and his wife Regina Maxima, popularly known as "Nero's Tomb.")

Following the road to the left of the Ponte Molle, we turn up a steep incline to the deserted Villa Madama, built by Giulio Romano, from designs of Raphael for Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, afterwards Clement VII. It derives its name from Margaret of Austria, daughter of Charles V., and wife, first of Alessandro de' Medici, and then of Ottavio Farnese, duke of Parma; from this second marriage, it descended through Elisabetta Farnese, to the Bourbon kings of Naples. The neglected halls contain some fresco decorations by Giulio Romano and Giovanni da Udine.

"They consist of a series of beautiful little pictures, representing the sports of Satyrs and Loves; Juno, attended by her peacocks; Jupiter and Ganymede; and various subjects of mythology and fable. The paintings in the portico have been of first-rate excellence; and I cannot but regret, that designs so beautiful should not be engraved before their last traces disappear for ever. A deep fringe on one of the deserted chambers, representing angels, flowers, Caryatides, &c., by Giulio Romano; and also a fine fresco on a ceiling, by Giovanni da Udine, of Phœbus driving his heavenly steeds, are in somewhat better preservation.

"It was in the groves that surrounded Villa Madama, that the Pastor Fido of Guarini was represented for the first time before a brilliant circle of princes and nobles, such as these scenes will see no more, and Italy itself could not now produce."—Eaton's Rome.

The frescoes and arabesques executed here by Giovanni da Udine were considered at the time as among the most successful of his works. Vasari says that in these he "wished to be supreme, and to excel himself." Cardinal de' Medici was so delighted with them that he not only heaped benefits on all the relations of the painter, but rewarded him with a rich canonry, which he was allowed to transfer to his brother.

One can scarcely doubt from the description of Martial that this villa occupies the site of that in which the poet came to visit his friend and namesake.

"Juli jugera pauca Martialis,

Hortis Hesperidum beatiora,

Longo Janiculi jugo recumbunt.

Lati collibus imminent recessus;

Et planus modico tumore vertex

Cœlo perfruitur sereniore:

Et, curvas nebula tegente valles,

Solus luce nitet peculiari:

Puris leniter admoventur astris

Celsæ culmina delicata villæ.

Hinc septem dominos videre montes,

Et totam licet sestimare Romam."

The Villa Madama is situated on one of the slopes of Monte Mario, which is ascended by a winding carriage-road from near the Porta Angelica. This hill, in ancient times called Clivus Cinnæ, was in the middle ages Monte Malo, and is thus spoken of by Dante (Paradiso, xv. 109). Its name changed to Mario, through Mario Mellini, its possessor in the time of Sixtus V. Passing the two churches of Sta. Maria del Rosario and Sta. Croce di Monte Mario,[375] we reach a gate with an old pine-tree. This is the Villa Mellini (for which an order is supposed to be necessary, though a franc will usually cause the gates to fly open), which possesses a magnificent view over Rome, from its terraces, lined with ilexes and cypresses.

"The Monte Mario, like Cooper's Hill, is the highest, boldest, and most prominent part of the line; it is about the height and steepness too of Cooper's Hill, and has the Tiber at the foot of it, like the Thames at Anchorwick. To keep up the resemblance, there is a sort of terrace at the top of the Monte Mario, planted with cypresses, and a villa, though dilapidated, crowns the summit, as well as at our old friend above Egham. Here we stood, on a most delicious evening, the ilex and the gum-cistus in great profusion about us, the slope below full of vines and olives, the cypresses above our heads, and before our eyes all that one has read of in Roman History—the course of the Tiber between the hills that bound it, coming down from Fidenæ and receiving the Allia and the Anio; beyond, the Apennines, the distant and higher summits still quite white with snow; in front, the Alban Hills; on the right, the Campagna to the sea; and just beneath us the whole length of Rome, ancient and modern—St. Peter's and the Coliseum, rising as the representatives of each—the Pantheon, the Aventine, the Quirinal, all the well-known objects distinctly laid before us. One may safely say that the world cannot contain many views of such mingled beauty and interest as this."—Dr. Arnold.

"Les maisons de campagne des grands seigneurs donnent l'idée de cette solitude, de cette indifférence des possesseurs au milieu des plus admirables séjours du monde. On se promène dans ces immenses jardins, sans se douter qu'ils aient un maître. L'herbe croît au milieu des allées; et, dans ces mêmes allées abandonnées, les arbres sont taillés artistement, selon l'ancien goût qui régnait en France; singulière bizarrerie que cette négligence du nécessaire, et cette affectation de l'inutile!"—Mad. de Staël.

(Behind the Monte Mario, about four miles from Rome, is the church of S. Onofrio in Campagna, with a curious ossuary.)

Just outside the Porta Angelica was the vineyard in which Alexander VI. died.

"This is the manner in which Pope Alexander VI. came to his death.

"The cardinal datary, Arian de Corneto, having received a gracious intimation that the pontiff, together with the Duke Valentinos, designed to come and sup with him at his vineyard, and that his Holiness would bring the supper with him, the cardinal suspected that this determination had been taken for the purpose of destroying his life by poison, to the end that the duke might have his riches and appointments, the rather as he knew that the pope had resolved to put him to death by some means, with a view to seizing his property as I have said,—which was very great. Considering of the means by which he might save himself, he could see but one hope of safety—he sent in good time to the pope's carver, with whom he had a certain intimacy, desiring that he would come to speak with him; who, when he had come to the said cardinal, was taken by him into a secret place, where, they two being retired, the cardinal showed the carver a sum, prepared beforehand, of 10,000 ducats, in gold, which the said cardinal persuaded the carver to accept as a gift and to keep for love of him, and after many words, they were at length accepted, the cardinal offering, moreover, all the rest of his wealth at his command—for he was a very rich cardinal, for he said that he could not keep the said riches by any other means than through the said carver's aid, and declared to him, 'You know of a certainty what the nature of the pope is, and I know that he has resolved, with the Duke Valentinos, to procure my life by poison, through your hand,'—wherefore he besought the carver to take pity on him, and to give him his life. And having said this, the carver declared to him the manner in which it was ordered that the poison should be given to him at the supper, but being moved to compassion he promised to preserve his life. Now the orders were that the carver should present three boxes of sweetmeats, in tablets or lozenges, after the supper, one to the pope, one to the said cardinal, and another to the duke, and in that for the cardinal there was poison: and thus being told, the said cardinal gave directions to the aforesaid carver in what manner he should serve them, so as to cause that the box of poisoned confect which was to be for the cardinal, should be placed before the pope, so that he might eat thereof, and so poison himself, and die. And the pope being come accordingly with the duke to supper on the day appointed, the cardinal threw himself at his feet, kissing them and embracing them closely; then he entreated his Holiness with most affectionate words, saying, he would never rise from those feet until his Holiness had granted him a favour. Being questioned by the pontiff what this favour was, and requested to rise up, he would first have the grace he demanded, and the promise of his Holiness to grant it. Now after much persuasion, the pope remained sufficiently astonished, seeing the perseverance of the cardinal, and that he would not rise, and promised to grant the favour. Then the cardinal rose up and said, 'Holy Father, it is not fitting that when the master comes to the house of his servant, the servant should eat with his master like an equal (confrezer parimente),' and therefore the grace he demanded was the just and honest one, that he, the servant, should wait at the table of his master; and this favour the pope granted him. Then having come to supper, and the time for serving the confectionery having arrived, the carver put the poisoned sweetmeats into the box, according to the first order given to him by the pope, and the cardinal being well informed as to which box had no poison, tasted of that one, and put the poisoned confect before the pope. Then his Holiness, trusting to his carver, and seeing the cardinal tasting, judged that no poison was there, and ate of it heartily; while of the other, which the pope thought was poisoned, but which was not, the cardinal ate. Now at the hour accustomed, according to the quality of that poison, his Holiness began to feel its effect, and so died thereof; but the cardinal, who was yet much afraid, having physicked himself and vomited, took no harm and escaped, though not without difficulty."—Sanuto, iv., Translation in Ranke's Hist. of the Popes.

The wine of the Vatican hill has had a bad reputation even from classical times. "If you like vinegar," wrote Martial, "drink the wine of the Vatican!"[376] and again, "To drink the wine of the Vatican is to drink poison."[377]

(Here, also, is the entrance of the Val d' Inferno, a pleasant winter walk, where, near the beginning of the Cork Woods, are some picturesque remains of an ancient nymphæum.)

The Porta Angelica, built by Pius IV. (1559—1566), leads into the Borgo, beneath the walls of the Vatican.

Those who return from hence to the English quarter in the evening, will realize the vividness of Miss Thackeray's description:—

"They passed groups standing round their doorways; a blacksmith hammering with great straight blows at a copper pot, shouting to a friend, a young baker, naked almost, except for a great sheet flung over his shoulders, and leaning against the door of his shop. The horses tramp on. Listen to the flow of fountains gleaming white against the dark marbles,—to the murmur of voices. An old lady, who has apparently hung all her wardrobe out of window, in petticoats and silk hankerchiefs, is looking out from beneath these banners at the passers in the streets. Little babies, tied up tight in swaddling-clothes, are being poised against their mother's hips; a child is trying to raise the great knocker of some feudal-looking arch, hidden in the corner of the street. Then they cross the bridge, and see the last sun's rays flaming from the angel's sacred sword. Driving on through the tranquil streets, populous and thronged with citizens, they see brown-faced, bronze-headed Torsos in balconies and window-frames; citizens sitting tranquilly, resting on the kerb-stones, with their feet in the gutters; grand-looking women resting against their doorways. Sibyls out of the Sistine were sitting on the steps of the churches. In one stone archway sat the Fates spinning their web. There was a holy family by a lemonade-shop, and a whole heaven of little Coreggio angels perching dark-eyed along the road. Then comes a fountain falling into a marble basin, at either end of which two little girls are clinging and climbing. Here is a little lighted May-altar to the Virgin, which the children have put up under the shrine by the street-corner. They don't beg clamorously, but stand leaning against the wall, waiting for a chance miraculous baioch?"—Bluebeard's Keys.

CHAPTER XX.

THE JANICULAN.

Gate of Sto. Spirito—Church, Convent, and Garden of S. Onofrio—The Lungara—Palazzo Salviati and the Botanic-Garden—S. Giovanni alla Lungara—Palazzo Corsini—The Farnesina—Porta Settimiana—S. Pietro in Montorio—Fontana Paolina—Villa Lante—Porta and Church of S. Pancrazio—Villa Doria-Pamfili—Chapel of St. Andrew's Head.

THE Janiculan is a steep crest of hill which rises abruptly on the west bank of the Tiber, and breaks imperceptibly away on the other side into the Campagna towards Civita Vecchia. Its lower formation is a marine clay abounding in fossils, but its upper surface is formed of the yellow sand which gave it the ancient name of Mons Aureus,—still commemorated in Montorio—S. Pietro in Montorio.

A tradition universally received in ancient times, and adopted by Virgil, derives the name of Janiculum from Janus, who was the sun-god, as Jana, or Diana, was the moon-goddess. On this hill Janus is believed to have founded a city, which is mentioned by Pliny under the name of Antinopolis. Ovid makes Janus speak for himself as to his property:

"Arx mea collis erat, quem cultrix nomine nostro

Nuncupat hæc ætas, Janiculumque vocat."[378]

Fons, the supposed son of Janus, is known to have had an altar here in very early times.[379] Janus Quirinus was a war-god, "the sun armed with a lance." Thus, in time of peace, the gates of this temple were closed, both because his worship was then unnecessary, and from an idea of preventing war from going forth. It was probably in this character that he was honoured on a site which the Romans looked upon as "the key of Etruria," while other nations naturally regarded it as "the key of Rome."

Janus was represented as having a key in his hand.

"Ille tenens dextra baculum, clavemque sinistra."

"Par un hasard singulier, Janus, qu'on représentait une clef à la main, était le dieu du Janicule, voisin du Vatican, où est le tombeau de Saint Pierre, que l'on représente aussi tenant une clef. Janus, comme Saint Pierre, son futur voisin, était le portier céleste."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. i. 229,

When the first Sabine king of Rome, Numa Pompilius, "like the darlings of the gods in the golden age, fell asleep, full of days,"[380] he was buried upon the sacred hill of his own people, and the books of his sacred laws and ordinances were buried near him in a separate tomb.[381] In the sixth century of the republic, a monument was discovered on the Janiculan, which was believed to be that of Numa, and certain books were dug up near it which were destroyed by the senate in the fear that they might give a too free-thinking explanation of the Roman mythology.[382]

Ancus Martius, the fourth king of Rome, connected the Janiculan with the rest of the city by building the Pons Sublicius, the first bridge over the Tiber; and erected a citadel on the crest of the hill as a bulwark against Etruria, with which he was constantly at war.[383] Some escarpments, supposed to belong to the fortifications of Ancus, have lately been found behind the Fontana Paolina. It was from this same ridge that his Etruscan successor, Tarquinius Priscus, coming from Tarquinii (Corneto), had his first view of the city over which he came to reign, and here the eagle, henceforth to be the emblem of Roman power, replaced upon his head the cap which it had snatched away as he was riding in his chariot. Hence, also, Lars Porsena, king of Etruria, looked upon Rome, when he came to the assistance of Tarquinius Superbus, and retired in fear of his life after he had seen specimens of Roman endurance, in Horatius Cocles, who kept the falling bridge; in Mutius, who burnt his hand in the charcoal; and in the hostage, Cœllia, who swam home across the Tiber,—all anecdotes connected with the Janiculan.

After the time of the kings this hill appears less frequently in history. But it was here that the consul Octavius, the friend of Sylla, was murdered by the partisans of Marius, while seated in his curule chair,—near the foot of the hill Julius Cæsar had his famous gardens, and on its summit the Emperor Galba was buried. The Christian associations of the hill will be noticed at the different points to which they belong.

From the Borgo (Chap. XV.) the unfinished gate called Porta Sto. Spirito, built by Antonio da San Gallo, leads into the Via Lungara, a street three-quarters of a mile long, formed by Sixtus V., and occupying the whole length of the valley between the Tiber and the Janiculan.

Immediately on the right, the steep "Salita di S. Onofrio" leads up the hillside to the Church of S. Onofrio, built in 1439 by Nicolo da Forca Palena, in honour of the Egyptian hermit, Honophrius.

"St. Onofrius was a monk of Thebes, who retired to the desert, far from the sight of men, and dwelt there in a cave for sixty years, and during all that time never beheld one human being, or uttered one word of his mother-tongue except in prayer. He was unclothed, except by some leaves twisted round his body, and his beard and hair had become like the face of a wild beast. In this state he was discovered by a holy man whose name was Paphnutius, who, seeing him crawling on the ground, knew not at first what live thing it might be."—Jameson's Sacred Art.

From the little platform in front of the convent is one of the loveliest views over the city. The church is approached by a portico, decorated with glazed frescoes by Domenichino. Those on either side of the door represent the saints of the Hieronomyte Order (the adjoining convent belongs to Hieronomytes), viz.: S. Jerome, Sta. Paula, St. Eustochium, S. Pietro Gambacorta of Pisa, St Augustine the hermit, S. Nicolo di Forca Palena, S. Onofrio and the Blessed Benedict of Sicily, Philip of St. Agatha, Paul of Venice, Bartholomew of Cesarea, Mark of Manuta, Philip of Fulgaria, and John of Catalonia. Over the door is a Madonna and Child. In the side arcade are three scenes in the life of St. Jerome. 1. Represents his baptism as a young man at Rome. 2. Refers to his vision of the Judgment (described in his letter to Eustochium), in which he heard the Judge of the World ask what he was, and he answered, "I am a Christian." But the Judge replied, "No, you lie, for you are a Ciceronian," and he was condemned to be scourged, but continued to protest that he was a Christian between every lash. 3. Is a scene alluded to in another letter to Eustochium, in which Jerome says, "O how often when alone in the desert with the wild beasts and scorpions, half dead with fasting and penance, have I fancied myself a spectator of the sins of Rome, and of the dances of its young women."

The church has a solemn and picturesque interior. It ends in a tribune richly adorned with frescoes, those of the upper part (the Coronation of the Virgin, and eight groups of saints and angels) being by Pinturicchio, those of the lower (the Virgin and Saints, Nativity, and Flight into Egypt) by Baldassare Peruzzi.

On the left of the entrance is the original monument of Tasso (with a portrait), erected after his death by Cardinal Bevilacqua. Greatly inferior in interest is a monument recently placed to his memory in the adjoining chapel, by subscription, the work of De Fabris. Near this is the grave of the poet, Alessandro Guidi, ob. 1712. In the third chapel on the left is the grave of the learned Cardinal Mezzofanti, born at Bologna, 1774, died at Rome, 1849.

The first chapel on the right, which is low and vaulted, with stumpy pillars, is covered with frescoes relating to S. Onofrio.

The second chapel on the right, which is very richly decorated, contains a Madonna crowned by Angels, by Annibale Caracci. Beyond this is the fine tomb of Archbishop Sacchi, ob. 1502. The beautiful lunette, of the Madonna teaching the Holy Child to read, is by Pinturicchio. The tomb is inscribed:

"Labor et gloria vita fuit,

Mors requies."

Ladies are never admitted to visit the convent, except on April 25th, the anniversary of the death of Tasso. It is approached by a cloister, decorated with frescoes from the life of S. Onofrio.

"S. Onofrio is represented as a meagre old man, with long hair and beard, grey and matted, a leafy branch twisted round his loins, a stick in his hand. The artist generally tries to make him look as haggard and inhuman as possible."—Mrs. Jameson.

In a passage on the first floor is a beautiful fresco of the Virgin and Child with the donor, by Leonardo da Vinci.

"To 1513 belongs a Madonna, painted on the wall of the upper corridor of the convent of S. Onofrio. It is on a gold ground: the action of the Madonna is beautiful, displaying the noblest form, and the expression of the countenance is peculiarly sweet; but the Child, notwithstanding his graceful action, is somewhat hard and heavy, so as almost to warrant the conclusion that this picture belongs to an earlier period, which would suppose a previous visit to Rome."—Kugler.

Torquato Tasso came to Rome in 1594, on the invitation of Clement VIII., that he might be crowned on the Capitol, but as he arrived in the month of November, and the weather was then very bad, it was decided to postpone the ceremony till late in the following spring. This delay was a source of trouble to Tasso, who was in feeble health, and had a presentiment that his death was near. Before the time for his crowning arrived he had removed to S. Onofrio, saying to the monks who received him at the entrance, "My fathers, I have come to die amongst you!" and he wrote to one of his friends, "I am come to begin my conversation in heaven in this elevated place, and in the society of these holy fathers." During the fourteen days of his illness, he became perfectly absorbed in the contemplation of divine subjects, and upon the last day of his life, when he received the papal absolution, exclaimed, "I believe that the crown which I looked for upon the Capitol is to be changed for a better crown in heaven." Throughout the last night a monk prayed by his side till the morning, when Tasso was heard to murmur, "In manus tuas, Domine," and then he died. The room in which he expired, April 25, 1595, contains his bust, crucifix, inkstand, autograph, a mask taken from his face after death, and other relics. The archives of S. Onofrio have this entry:

"Torquato Tasso, illustrious from his genius, died thus in our monastery of S. Onofrio. In April, 1595, he caused himself to be brought here that he might prepare for death with greater devotion and security, as he felt his end approaching. He was received courteously by our fathers, and conducted to chambers in the loggia, where everything was ready for him. Soon afterwards he became dangerously ill, and desired to confess and receive the most Holy Sacrament from the prior. Being asked to write his will, he said that he wished to be buried at S. Onofrio, and he left to the convent his crucifix and fifty scudi for alms, that so many masses might be said for his soul, in the manner that is read in the book of legacies in our archives. Pope Clement VIII. was requested for his benediction, which he gave amply for the remission of sins. In his last days he received extreme unction, and then, with the crucifix in his hand, contemplating and kissing the sacred image, with Christian contrition and devotion, being surrounded by our fathers, he gave up his spirit to the Creator, on April 25, 1595, between the eleventh and twelfth hours (i.e., between 7 and 8 A.M.), in the fiftieth year of his age. In the evening his body was interred with universal concourse in our church, near the steps of the high altar, the Cardinal Giulio Aldobrandini, under whose protection he had lived during the last years, being minded to erect to him, as soon as possible, a sumptuous sepulchre; which, however, was never carried into effect; but after the death of the latter, the Signor Cardinal Bevilacqua raised to his memory the monument which is seen on entering the church on the left side."

Ladies are admitted to the beautiful garden of the convent on ringing at the first large gate on the left below the church.

This lovely plot of ground, fresh with running streams, possesses a glorious view over the city, and the Campagna beyond S. Paolo. At the further extremity, near a picturesque group of cypresses, are remains of the oak planted by Tasso, the greater part of which was blown down in 1842. A young sapling is shooting up beside it. Beyond this is the little amphitheatre, overgrown with grass and flowers, where S. Filippo Neri used to teach children, and assemble them "for the half-dramatic musical performances which were an original form of his oratorios. Here every 25th of April a musical entertainment of the Accademia is held in memory of Tasso,—his bust, crowned with laurel wreaths, and taken from the cast after death, being placed in the centre of the amphitheatre."[384]

Returning to the Lungara, on the left is a Lunatic Asylum, founded by Pius IX., with a pompous inscription, and beyond it, a chain bridge to S. Giovanni dei Fiorentini. On the right is the handsome Palazzo Salviati, which formerly contained a fine collection of pictures, removed to the Borghese Palace, when, upon the property falling into the hands of Prince Borghese, he sold the palace to the government, who now use it as a repository for the civil archives. The adjoining garden now belongs to the Sapienza, and has been turned into a Botanic Garden. The modernized church of S. Giovanni alla Lungara dates from the time of Leo IV. (845—857), and is now attached to a reformatory. On the right is a large Convent of the Buon Pastore.

We now reach, on the right, the magnificent Palazzo Corsini, built originally by the Riario family, from whom it was bought by Clement XII. in 1729, for his nephew Cardinal Neri Corsini, for whom it was altered to its present form by Fuga.

This palace was in turn the resort of Caterina Sforza, the brave duchess of Imola; of the learned Poet Cardinal di S. Giorgio; of Michael Angelo, who remained here more than a year on a visit to the cardinal, "who," says Vasari, "being of small understanding in art, gave him no commission"; and of Erasmus, who always remembered the pleasant conversations (confabulationes mellifluæ) of the "Riario Palace," as it was then called. In the seventeenth century the palace became the residence of Queen Christina of Sweden, who died here on April 19, 1689, in a room which is distinguished by two columns of painted wood.

"With her residence in Rome, the habits of Christina became more tranquil and better regulated. She obtained some mastery over herself, suffered certain considerations of what was due to others to prevail, and consented to acknowledge the necessities incident to the peculiarities of her chosen residence. She took a constantly increasing part in the splendour, the life, and the business of the Curia, becoming indeed eventually altogether identified with its interests. The collections she had brought with her from Sweden, she now enlarged by so liberal an expenditure, and with so much taste, judgment, and success, that she surpassed even the native families, and elevated the pursuit from a mere gratification of curiosity, to a higher and more significant importance both for learning and art. Men such as Spanheim and Havercamp thought the illustration of her coins and medals an object not unworthy of their labours, and Sante Bartolo devoted his practised hand to her cameos. The Coreggios of Christina's collection have always been the richest ornament of every gallery into which the changes of time have carried them. The MSS. of her choice have contributed in no small degree to maintain the reputation of the Vatican library, into which they were subsequently incorporated. Acquisitions and possessions of this kind filled up the hours of her daily life, with an enjoyment that was at least harmless. She also took interest and an active part in scientific pursuits; and it is much to her credit that she received the poor exiled Borelli, who was compelled to resort in his old age to teaching as a means of subsistence. The queen supported him with her utmost power, and caused his renowned and still unsurpassed work, on the mechanics of animal motion, by which physiological science has been so importantly influenced and advanced, to be printed at her own cost. Nay, I think we may even venture to affirm, that she herself, when her character and intellect had been improved and matured, exerted a powerfully efficient and enduring influence on the period, more particularly on Italian literature. In the year 1680, she founded an academy in her own residence for the discussion of literary and political subjects; and the first rule of this institution was, that its members should carefully abstain from the turgid style, overloaded with false ornament, which prevailed at the time, and be guided only by sound sense and the models of the Augustan and Medicean ages. From the queen's academy proceeded such men as Alessandro Guidi, who had previously been addicted to the style then used, but after some time passed in the society of Christina, he not only resolved to abandon it, but even formed a league with some of his friends for the purpose of labouring to abolish it altogether. The Arcadia, an academy to which the merit of completing this good work is attributed, arose out of the society which assembled around the Swedish queen. On the whole, it must needs be admitted, that in the midst of the various influences pressing around her, Christina preserved a noble independence of mind. To the necessity for evincing that ostentatious piety usually expected from converts, or which they impose on themselves, she would by no means subject herself. Entirely Catholic as she was, and though continually repeating her conviction of the pope's infallibility, and of the necessity for believing all doctrines enjoined either by himself or the Church, she had nevertheless an extreme detestation of bigots, and utterly abhorred the direction of father confessors, who were at that time the exclusive rulers of all social and domestic life. She would not be prevented from enjoying the amusements of the carnival, concerts, dramatic entertainments, or whatever else might be offered by the habits of life at Rome; above all, she refused to be withheld from the internal movement of an intellectual and animated society. She acknowledged a love of satires, and took pleasure in Pasquin. We find her constantly mingled in the intrigues of the court, the dissensions of the papal houses, and the factions of the cardinals.... She attached herself to the mode of life presented to her with a passionate love, and even thought it impossible to live if she did not breathe the atmosphere of Rome."—Ranke's Hist. of the Popes.

In 1797 this palace was used as the French embassy, and on the 28th of December was the scene of a terrible skirmish, when Joseph Buonaparte, then ambassador, attempted to interfere between the French democratic party and the papal dragoons, and when young General Duphot, who was about to be married to Buonaparte's sister-in-law, was shot by his side in a balcony. These events, after which Joseph Buonaparte immediately demanded his passports and departed, were among the chief causes which led to the invasion of Rome by Berthier, and the imprisonment of Pius VII.[385]

The collections now in the palace have all been formed since the death of Queen Christina. The Picture Gallery is open to the public from nine to twelve, every day except Sundays and holidays.

The following criticism, applicable to all the private galleries in Rome, is perhaps especially so to this:

"You may generally form a tolerably correct conjecture of what a gallery will contain, as to subject, before you enter it,—a certain quantity of Landscapes, a great many Holy Families, a few Crucifixions, two or three Pietàs, a reasonable proportion of St. Jeromes, a mixture of other Saints and Martyrdoms, and a large assortment of Madonnas and Magdalenes, make up the principal part of all the collections in Rome; which are generally comprised of quite as many bad as good paintings."—Eaton's Rome.

The 1st room is chiefly occupied by pretty but unimportant landscapes by Orizzonti and Vanvitelli, and figure pieces by Locatelli. We may notice (the best pictures being marked with an asterisk):

1st Room.—

24, 26. Canaletti.

2nd Room.—

12. Madonna and Child in glory: Elis. Sirani.

11, 27. Fruit: Mario di Fiori.

15. Landscape: G. Poussin.

17, 19. Landscapes with Cattle: Berghem.

20. Pietà: Lod. Caracci.

41. S. Andrea Corsini: Fr. Gessi.

3rd Room.—

1. Ecce Homo: Guercino.*

9. Madonna and Child: A. del Sarto.

13. Holy Family: Barocci.

16, 20. Rock Scenes: Salvator Rosa.

17. Madonna and Child: Caravaggio.

23. Sunset: Both.*

26. Holy Family: Fra. Bartolomeo.

43. Two Martyrdoms: Carlo Saraceni.

44. Julius II.: after Raphael.

The portrait of Julius II. (della Rovere) is a replica or copy of that at the Pitti Palace. There are other duplicates in the Borghese Gallery, at the National Gallery in England, and at Leigh Court in Somersetshire. Julius II. ob. 1513.

49. St. Appollonia: Carlo Dolce.

50. Philip II. of Spain: Titian.

52. Vanity: Carlo Saraceni.*

88. Ecce Homo: Carlo Dolce.

4th Room.—

1. Clement XII. (Lorenzo Corsini, 1730—40): Benedetto Luti.

4. Cupid asleep: Guido Reni.

11. Daughter of Herodias: Guido Reni.*

16. Madonna: Guido Reni.

22. Christ and the Magdalen: Barocci.

27. Two Heads: Lod. Caracci.

28. St. Jerome: Titian.

40. Faustina Maratta—his daughter: Carlo Maratta.

41. Fornarina: Giulio Romano, after Raphael,—replica of the picture at Florence.

42. Old Man: Guido.

44. A Hare: Albert Durer.*

55. Death of Adonis: Spagnoletto.

In this room is an ancient marble chair, found near the Lateran—and on a table "the Corsini Vase," in silver, with reliefs representing the judgment of Areopagus upon the matricide of Orestes.

5th Room.—(In which Christina died, with a ceiling by the Zuccari.)

2. Holy Family: Pierino del Vaga.

12. St. Agnes: Carlo Dolce.*

14. Madonna reading: Sassoferrato.

20. Ulysses and Polyphemus: Lanfranco.

23. Madonna and Child: Albani.

26. Madonna and Child: Sassoferrato.

37. Addolorata: Guido Reni.

38. Ecce Homo: Guido Reni.

39. St. John: Guido Reni.

6th Room.—

19. Portrait: Holbein.

20. Mgr. Ghiberti: Titian.

21. Children of Charles V.: Titian.*

22. Old Woman: Rembrandt.*

23. Male Portrait: Giorgione.

31. Caterina Bora, Wife of Luther: Holbein.*

32. Male Portrait: Vandyke.

34. Nativity of the Virgin. Miniature from Durer.

40. Cardinal Divitius de Bibbiena: Bronzino.

47. Portrait of Himself: Rubens.*

48. A Doge of Venice: Tintoret.

54. Cardinal Alessandro Farnese: Titian.*

68. Cardinal Neri Corsini: Baciccio.

7th Room.—

1. Madonna and Child: Murillo.*

13. Landscape: G. Poussin.

15. St. Sebastian: Rubens.

18. Christ bearing the Cross: Garofalo.

21. Christ among the Doctors: Luca Giordano.

22. Descent of the Holy Spirit: Fra Angelico.

23. Last Judgment: Fra Angelico.

24. Ascension: Fra Angelico.

"A Last Judgment by Angelico da Fiesole, with wings containing the Ascension and the Descent of the Holy Ghost, is in the Corsini Gallery. Here we perceive a great richness of expression and beauty of drapery; the rapture of the blessed is told, chiefly by their embraces and by their attitudes of prayer and praise. It is a remarkable feature, and one indicative of the master, that the ranks of the condemned are entirely filled by monks."—Kugler.

26. Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew: Lod. Caracci.

30. Woman taken in Adultery: Titian.*

35. Gonfaloniere of the Church: Domenichino.

8th Room.—

8. Christ before Pilate: Vandyke.

12. St. George: Ercole Grandi.

13. Contemplation: Guido Reni.

15. Landscape: G. Poussin.

17. Judith and Head of Holofernes: Gérard de la Nuit.

24. St. Jerome: Guercino.

25. St. Jerome: Spagnoletto.

43. Mosaic portrait of Clement XII. and his nephew Cardinal Neri Corsini.

In this room are two modern family busts with touching inscriptions.

CABINET:

26. Madonna and Child: Spagna.*

9th Room.—

2. Village Interior: Teniers.

9. Innocent X.: Velasquez (a replica of the Doria portrait).

26. Female Portrait: Bronzino.

28, 29. Battle-pieces: Salvator Rosa.

30. Two Heads: Giorgione.

40. Madonna Addolorata: Cignani.

49. Madonna and Child: Gherardesco da Siena.

One of the gems of the collection, a highly finished Madonna and Child of Carlo Dolce, is usually shown in a glass case in the first room.

The Corsini Library (open every day except Wednesdays) contains a magnificent collection of MSS. and engravings, founded by Cardinal Neri Corsini. It has also some beautiful original drawings by the old masters. Behind the palace, on the slope of the Janiculan, are large and beautiful Gardens adorned with fountains, cypresses, and some grand old plane-trees. There is a fine view from the Casino on the summit of the hill.

"A magnificent porter in cocked hat and grand livery conducted the visitors across the quadrangle, unlocked the ponderous iron gates of the gardens, and let them through, leaving them to their own devices, and closing and locking the gates with a crash. They now stood in a wide avenue of ilex, whose gloomy boughs, interlacing overhead, effectually excluded the sunlight; nearly a quarter of a mile further on, the ilexes were replaced by box and bay trees, beneath which the sun and shade divided the path between them, trembling and flickering on the ground and invading each other's dominions with every breath of wind. The strangers heard the splash of fountains as they walked onwards by banks precipitous as a hill-side, and covered with wild rank herbage and tall trees. Stooping to gather a flower, they almost started, as looking up, they saw, rising against a sky fabulously blue, the unfamiliar green ilex and dark cypress spire."—Mademoiselle Mori.

Opposite the Corsini Palace is the beautiful villa of the Farnesina (open on Sundays from 10 to 3), built in 1506 by Baldassare Peruzzi for the famous banker Agostino Chigi, who here gave his sumptuous and extravagant entertainments to Leo X. and his court—banquets at which three fish cost as much as 230 crowns, and after which the plate that had been used, was all thrown into the Tiber.[386] This same Agostino Chigi was one of the greatest of art patrons, and has handed down to us not only the decorations of the Farnesina, but the Sibyls of Sta. Maria della Pace, which he also ordered from Raphael.

"Le jour où Leon X. alla prendre possession de la basilique de Latran, l'opulent Chigi se distingua. Le théâtre qui s'élevait devant son palais était rempli des envoyés de tous les peuples, blancs, cuivrés, et noirs; au milieu d'eux on distinguait les images de Vénus, de Mars, de Minerve, allusion singulière aux trois pontificats d'Alexander VI., de Jules II, et de Léon X. Vénus a eu son temps: disait l'inscription; Mars a eu le sien; c'est aujourd'hui le règne de Minerve. Antoine de San-Marino, qui demeurait près de Chigi, répondit aussitot en plaçant sur sa boutique la statue isolée de Vénus, avec ce peu de mots: Mars a régné, Minerve règne, Vénus régnera toujours."—Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne, ii. 109.

The Farnesina contains some of the most beautiful existing frescoes of Raphael and his school. The principal hall was once open, but has now been closed in to preserve the paintings. Its ceiling was designed by Raphael (1518—20), and painted by Giulio Romano and Francesco Penni, with twelve scenes from the story of Psyche as narrated by Apuleius:

A king had three daughters. The youngest was named Psyche, and was more lovely than the sunshine. Venus, the queen of beauty, was herself jealous of her, and bade her son Cupid to destroy her charms by inspiring her with an unworthy love (1). But Cupid, when he beheld Psyche, loved her himself, showed her to the Graces (2), and carried her off. He only visited her in the darkness of night, and bade her always to repress her curiosity as to his appearance. But while Cupid was sleeping, Psyche lighted a lamp, and looked upon him,—and a drop of the hot oil fell upon him and he awoke. Then he left her alone in grief and solitude. Venus in the mean time learnt that Cupid was faithless to her, and imprisoned him, and sought assistance from Juno and Ceres that she might find Psyche, but they refused to aid her (3). Then she drove to seek Jupiter in her chariot drawn by doves (4), and implored him to send Mercury to her assistance (5). Jupiter listened to her prayer, and Mercury was sent forth to seek for Psyche (6). Venus then showed her spite against Psyche, and imposed harsh tasks upon her which she was nevertheless enabled to perform. At length she was ordered to bring a casket from the infernal regions (7), and even this, to the amazement of Venus, she succeeded in effecting (8). Cupid, escaped from captivity, then implored Jupiter to restore Psyche to him. Jupiter embraced him (9), and bade Mercury summon the gods to a council on the subject (see the ceiling on the right). Psyche was then brought to Olympus (10), and became immortal, and the gods celebrated her nuptial banquet (ceiling painting on left).

"On the flat of the ceiling are two large compositions, with numerous figures,—the Judgment of the Gods, who decide the dispute between Venus and Cupid, and the Marriage of Cupid and Psyche in the festal assembly of the gods. In the lunettes of the ceiling are amorini, with the attributes of those gods who have done homage to the power of Love. In the triangular compartments between the lunettes are different groups, illustrative of the incidents in the fable. They are of great beauty, and are examples of the most tasteful disposition in a given space. The picture of the three Graces, that in which Cupid stands in an imploring attitude before Jupiter; a third, where Psyche is borne away by Loves, are extremely graceful. Peevish critics have designated these representations as common and sensual, but the noble spirit visible in all Raphael's works prevails also in these: religious feeling could naturally find no place in them; but they are conceived in a spirit of the purest artlessness, always a proof of true moral feeling, and to which a narrow taste alone could object. In the execution, indeed, we recognise little of Raphael's fine feeling; the greatest part is by his scholars, after his cartoons, especially by G. Romano. The nearest of the three Graces, in the group before alluded to, appears to be by Raphael's own hand."—Kugler.

The paintings were injuriously retouched by Carlo Maratta. The garlands round them are by Giovanni da Udine. The second room contains the beautiful fresco of Galatea floating in a shell drawn by dolphins, by Raphael himself.

"Raphael not only designed, but executed this fresco; and faded as is its colouring, the mind must be dead to the highest beauties of painting, that can contemplate it without admiration. The spirit and beauty of the composition, the pure and perfect design, the flowing outline, the soft and graceful contours, and the sentiment and sweetness of the expression, all remain unchanged; for time, till it totally obliterates, has no power to injure them.... The figures of the attendant Nereid, and of the triumphant Triton who embraces her, are beautiful beyond description."—Eaton's Rome.

"The fresco of Galatea was painted in 1514. The greater part of this is Raphael's own work, and the execution is consequently much superior to that of the others. It represents the goddess of the sea borne over the waves in her shell; tritons and sea-nymphs sport joyously around her; amorini, discharging their arrows, appear in the air like an angel-glory. The utmost sweetness, the most ardent sense of pleasure, breathe from this work; everything lives, feels, vibrates with enjoyment "—Kugler.

The frescoes of the ceiling, representing Diana in her Car, and the story of Medusa, are by Baldassare Peruzzi; the lunettes are by Sebastian del Piombo and Daniele da Volterra. Michael Angelo came one day to visit the latter, and not finding him at his work, left the colossal head, which remains in a lunette of the left wall, as a sign of his visit.

In the upper story are two rooms; the first, adorned with a frieze of subjects from Ovid's Metamorphoses, contains large architectural paintings by Baldassare Peruzzi; the second has the Marriage of Alexander and Roxana, and the family of Darius in the presence of Alexander, by Sodoma.

The Porta Settimiana at the end of the Lungara preserves in its name a recollection of the gardens of Septimius Severus, which existed in this quarter. From hence the Via delle Fornaci ascends the hill, and leads to the broad new carriage-road, formed in 1867 under the superintendence of the Cav. Trochi. A Via-Crucis with a staircase will conduct the pedestrian by a shorter way to the platform on the hill-top.

The succession of beggars who infest this hill and stretch out their maimed limbs or kiss their hands to the passers-by will call to mind the lines of Juvenal:

"Cæcus adulator, dirusque a ponte satelles,

Dignus Aricinos qui mendicaret ad axes,

Blandaque devexæ jactaret basia rhedæ."

Sat. iv. 116.

The Church of S. Pietro in Montorio was built by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, from designs of Baccio Pintelli, on the site of an oratory founded by Constantine upon the supposed spot of St. Peter's crucifixion.

The first chapel on the right belongs to the Barberini, and contains pictures by Sebastian del Piombo, (painted in oil upon stone, a process which has caused them to be much blackened by time,) from drawings of Michael Angelo. The central picture represents the Scourging of Christ, a subject of which Sebastian was especially fond, as it gave the opportunity of displaying his great anatomical power. On the left is St. Peter, on the right St. Francis,—on the ceiling is the Transfiguration,—outside the arch are a Prophet and a Sibyl. The second chapel on the right has paintings by pupils of Perugino; the fifth contains St. Paul healed by Ananias, by Vasari.

The fourth chapel on the right is of some interest in the history of art. Julius III. had it greatly at heart to build and beautify this chapel as a memorial to his family, to contain the tombs of his uncle Cardinal Antonio di Monti, and of Fabiano, who first founded the splendours of his house. The work was entrusted to Michael Angelo and Vasari, who were at that time on terms of intimate friendship. They disputed about their subordinates. Vasari wished to employ Simone Mosca for the ornaments, and Raffaello da Montalupo for the statues; Michael Angelo objected to having any ornamental work at all, saying that where there were to be marble figures, there ought to be nothing else, and he would have nothing to do with Montalupo because his figures for the tomb of Julius II. had turned out so ill. When the chapel was finished Michael Angelo confessed himself in the wrong for not having allowed more ornament. The statues were entrusted to Bartolomeo Ammanati.

The first chapel on the left has St. Francis receiving the stigmata attributed to Giovanni de Vecchi.

"A barber of the Cardinal S. Giorgio was an artist, who painted very well in tempera, but had no idea of design. He made friends with Michael-Angelo, who made him a cartoon of a St. Francis receiving the stigmata, which the barber carefully carried out in colour, and his picture is now placed in the first chapel on the left of the entrance of S. Pietro in Montorio."—Vasari, vi.

The third chapel on the left contains a Virgin and Child with St. Anne, of the school of Perugino; the fourth, a fine Entombment, by an unknown hand; the fifth, the Baptism of Christ, said to be by Daniele da Volterra.

The Transfiguration of Raphael was painted for this church, and remained here till the French invasion. When it was returned from the Louvre it was kept at the Vatican. Had it been restored to this church, it would have been destroyed in the siege of 1849, when the tribune and bell-tower were thrown down. Here, in front of the high altar, the unhappy Beatrice Cenci was buried without any monument.

Irish travellers may be interested in the gravestones in the nave, of Hugh O'Neil of Tyrone, Baron Dungannon, and O'Donnell of Tyrconnell (1608). Near the door is the fine tomb, with the beautiful sleeping figure of Julian, Archbishop of Ragusa, ob. 1510, inscribed "Bonis et Mors et Vita dulcis est." An inscription below the steps in front of the church commemorates the translation of a miraculous image of the Virgin hither in 1714.

In the cloister is the Tempietto, a small domed building resting on sixteen Doric columns, built by Bramante in 1502, on the spot where St. Peter's cross is said to have stood. A few grains of the sacred sand from the hole in the centre of the chapel are given to visitors by the monks as a relic.

"St. Peter, when he was come to the place of execution, requested of the officers that he might be crucified with his head downwards, alleging that he was not worthy to suffer in the same manner his divine Master had died before him. He had preached the cross of Christ, had borne it in his heart, and its marks in his body, by sufferings and mortification, and he had the happiness to end his life on the cross. The Lord was pleased not only that he should die for his love, but in the same manner himself had died for us, by expiring on the cross, which was the throne of his love. Only the apostle's humility made a difference, in desiring to be crucified with his head downward. His Master looked toward heaven, which by his death he opened to men; but he judged that a sinner formed from dust, and going to return to dust, ought rather in confusion to look on the earth, as unworthy to raise his eyes to heaven. St. Ambrose, St. Austin, and St. Prudentius ascribe this his petition partly to his humility, and partly to his desire of suffering more for Christ. Seneca mentions that the Romans sometimes crucified men with their heads downward; and Eusebius testifies that several martyrs were put to that cruel death. Accordingly, the executioners easily granted the apostle his extraordinary request. St. Chrysostom, St. Austin, and St. Austerius say that he was nailed to the cross; Tertullian mentions that he was tied with cords. He was probably both nailed and bound with ropes."—Alban Butler.

The view from the front of the church is almost unrivalled.

Behind it is the famous Fontana Paolina, whose name, by a curious coincidence, combines those of its architect, Fontana, and its originator, Paul V. It was erected in 1611, and is supplied with water from the Lake of Bracciano, by the aqueduct of the Aqua Trajana, thirty-five miles in length. The red granite columns, which divide the fountain, were brought from the temple of Minerva in the Forum Transitorium.

"The pleasant, natural sound of falling water, not unlike that of a distant cascade in the forest, may be heard in many of the Roman streets and piazzas, when the tumult of the city is hushed; for consuls, emperors, and popes, the great men of every age, have found no better way of immortalising their memories, than by the shifting, indestructible, ever new, yet unchanging, up-gush and down-fall of water. They have written their names in that unstable element, and proved it a more durable record than brass or marble."—Hawthorne.

"Il n'y a rien encore, dans quelque état que ce soit, à opposer aux magnifiques fontaines qu'on voit à Rome dans les places et les carrefours, ni à l'abondance des eaux qui ne cessent jamais de couler; magnificence d'autant plus louable que l'utilité publique y est jointe."—Duclos.

A little beyond this fountain is the modern Porta S. Pancrazio, near the site of the ancient Porta Aurelia, built by Pius IX. in 1857, to replace a gate destroyed by the French under Oudinot in 1849. Many buildings outside the gate, injured at the same time, still remain in ruins.

The lane on the right, inside the gate, leads to the Villa Lante, built in 1524 by Giulio Romano, for Bartolomeo da Pescia, secretary of Clement VII. It still contains some frescoes of Giulio Romano, though they are only lately uncovered, as the house was used, until the last two years, as a succursale to the Convent of the Sacré Cœur at the Trinità de' Monti.

Not far outside the gate are the Church and Convent of S. Pancrazio, founded in the sixth century by Pope Symmachus, but modernized in 1609 by Cardinal Torres. Here Crescenzio Nomentano, the famous consul of Rome in the tenth century, is buried; here Narses, after the defeat of Totila, was met by the pope and cardinals, and conducted in triumph to St. Peter's to return thanks for his victory; here, also, Peter II. of Arragon was crowned by Innocent III., and Louis of Naples was received by John XII.

A flight of steps leads from the church to the Catacomb of Calepodius, where many of the early popes and martyrs were buried. It has no especial characteristic to make it worth visiting. Another flight of steps leads to the spot where S. Pancrazio was martyred. His body rests with that of St. Victor beneath the altar. A parish church in London is dedicated to St. Pancras, in whose name kings of France used to confirm their treaties.

"In the persecution under Diocletian, this young saint, who was only fourteen years of age, offered himself voluntarily as a martyr, defending boldly before the emperor the cause of the Christians. He was therefore beheaded by the sword, and his body was honourably buried by Christian women. His church, near the gate of S. Pancrazio, has existed since the year 500. St. Pancras was in the middle ages regarded as the protector against false oaths, and the avenger of perjury. It was believed that those who swore falsely by St. Pancras were immediately and visibly punished; hence his popularity."—Jameson's Sacred Art.

Turning to the left from the gate, on the side of the hill between this and the Porta Portese, is the Catacomb of S. Ponziano.

"Here is the only perfect specimen still extant of a primitive subterranean baptistery. A small stream of water runs through this cemetery, and at this one place the channel has been deepened so as to form a kind of reservoir, in which a certain quantity of water is retained. We descend into it by a flight of steps, and the depth of water it contains varies with the height of the Tiber. When that river is swollen so as to block up the exit by which this stream usually empties itself, the waters are sometimes so dammed back as to inundate the adjacent galleries of the catacomb; at other times there are not above three or four feet of water. At the back of the font, and springing out of the water, is painted a beautiful Latin cross, from whose sides leaves and flowers are budding forth, and on the two arms rest ten candlesticks, with the letters Alpha and Omega suspended by a little chain below them. On the front of the arch over the font is the Baptism of our Lord in the river Jordan by St. John, whilst St. Abdon, St. Sennen, St. Miles, and other saints of the Oriental Church occupy the sides. These paintings are all of late date, perhaps of the seventh or eighth century: but there is no reason to doubt but that the baptistery had been so used from the earliest times. We have distinct evidence in the Acts of the Martyrs that the sacrament was not unfrequently administered in the cemeteries."—The Roman Catacombs—Northcote.

In this catacomb is an early Portrait of Christ, much resembling that at SS. Nereo ed Achilleo.

"The figure is, however, draped, and the whole work has certain peculiarities which appear to mark a later period of art. Both these portraits agree, if not strictly, yet in general features, with the description in Lentulus's letter (to the Roman senate), and portraits and descriptions together serve to prove that the earliest Christian delineators of the person of the Saviour followed no arbitrary conception of their own, but were guided rather by a particular traditional type, differing materially from the Grecian ideal, and which they transmitted in a great measure to future ages."—Kugler, i. 16.

In this vicinity are the Catacombs of SS. Abdon and Sennen, of St. Julius, and of Sta. Generosa.

Opposite the Porta S. Pancrazio is the entrance of the beautiful Villa Pamfili Doria (open to pedestrians and to two-horse carriages after 12 o'clock on Mondays and Fridays), called by the Italians "Belrespiro." The Casino contains a few (not first-rate) ancient statues, and some views of Venice in the seventeenth century by Heintius. The garden, for which especial permission must be obtained, is full of beautiful azaleas and camellias.

From the ilex-fringed terrace in front of the casino is one of the best views of St. Peter's, which is here seen without the town,—backed by the Campagna, the Sabine Mountains, and the blue peak of Soracte. The road to the left leads through pine-shaded lawns and woods, and by some modern ruins, to the lake, above which is a graceful fountain. A small temple raised in 1851 commemorates the French who fell here during the siege of Rome in 1849. The word "Mary" in large letters of clipped box on the other side of the grounds is a memorial of the late beloved Princess Doria (Lady Mary Talbot). Not far from this is a columbarium.

The site of the Villa Doria was once occupied by the gardens of Galba, and here the murdered emperor is believed to have been buried.

"Un certain Argius, autrefois esclave de Galba, ramassa son corps, qui avait subi mille outrages, et alla lui creuser une humble sépulture dans les jardins de son ancien maître; mais il fallut retrouver la tête: elle avait été mutilée et promenée par les goujats de l'armée. Enfin Argius la trouva le lendemain, et la réunit au corps déjà brûlé. Les jardins de Galba étaient sur le Janicule, près de la voie Aurélienne, et on croit que le lieu qui vit le dernier dénouement de cette affreuse tragédie est celui qu'occupe aujourd'hui la plus charmante promenade de Rome, là où inclinent avec tant de grâce sur les pentes semées d'anémones et où dessinent si délicatement sur l'azur du ciel et des montagnes leurs parasols élégants les pins de la villa Pamphili."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 80.

The foundation of the Villa Pamfili Doria is due to the wealth extorted by Olympia Maldacchini during the reign of her brother-in-law, Innocent X.

"Innocent X. fut, pour ainsi dire, contraint de fonder la maison Pamphili. Les casuistes et les jurisconsultes levèrent ses scrupules, car il en avait. Ils lui prouvèrent que le pape était en droit d'économiser sur les revenus du saint-siége pour assurer l'avenir de sa famille. Ils fixèrent, avec une modération qui nous fait dresser les cheveux sur la tête, le chiffre des libéralités permises à chaque pape. Suivant eux, le souverain pontife pouvait, sans abuser, établir un majorat de quatre mille francs de rente nette, fonder une seconde géniture en faveur de quelque parent moins avantagé, et donner neuf cent mille francs de dot à chacune de ses nièces. Le général des jésuites, R. P. Vitelleschi, approuva cette décision. Là-dessus, Innocent X. se mit à fonder la maison Pamphili, à construire le palais Pamphili, à créer la villa Pamphili, et à pamphiliser, tant qu'il put, les finances de l'église et de l'état."—About, Rome Contemporaine.

There are two ways of returning to Rome from the Villa Doria—one, which descends straight into the valley to the Porta Cavalleggieri, passing on the left the Church of Sta. Maria delle Fornaci; the other, skirting the walls of the city beneath the Villa Lante, which passes a Chapel, where St. Andrew's head, lost one day by the canons of St. Peter's, was miraculously re-discovered!

"On ne voit pas que de nouveaux monuments religieux se rapportent aux deux apparitions de Pyrrhus en Italie; seulement les augures firent rétablir le temple du dieu des foudres nocturnes, le dieu étrusco-sabin Summanus, en expiation sans doute de ce que la tête de la statue de Summanus, placée sur le temple de Jupiter Capitolin, avait été détachée par la foudre, et, après qu'on l'eut cherchée en vain, retrouvée dans le Tibre.

"Je ne compare pas, mais j'ai vu le long des murs de Rome, entre la porte Cavalleggieri et la porte Saint Pancrace, une petite chapelle élevée au lieu où l'on a retrouvé la tête de Saint André apportée solennellement de Constantinople à Rome au quinzième siècle, et qui s'était perdue."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 55.

"Therefore farewell, ye hills, and ye, ye envineyarded ruins!

Therefore farewell, ye walls, palaces, pillars, and domes!

Therefore farewell, far seen, ye peaks of the mythic Albano,

Seen from Montorio's height, Tibur and Æsula's hills!

Ah, could we once ere we go, could we stand, while, to ocean descending,

Sinks o'er the yellow dark plain slowly the yellow broad sun,

Stand from the forest emerging at sunset, at once in the champaign,

Open, but studded with trees, chestnuts umbrageous and old,

E'en in those fair open fields that incurve to thy beautiful hollow,

Nemi imbedded in wood, Nemi inurn'd in the hill!—

Therefore farewell, ye plains, and ye hills, and the City Eternal!

Therefore farewell! we depart, but to behold you again!"

A. H. Clough, Amours de Voyage.

THE END.

Showing the more important streets and buildings. (right-side of map)]

INDEX.

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, Z

A.

Academy, French, in the Villa Medici, i. 49;

Costume, i. 55;

di S. Luca, i. 167

Æsculapius, temple of, ii. 364

Agger of Servius Tullius, ii. 38

Agrippa, baths of, ii. 211

Alberteschi family, Castle of the, ii. 368

Aldobrandini family, palace of, i. 461;

burial-place of, ii. 214

Alexis, St., frescoes of the life of, i. 346;

the story of, i. 362

Almo, the, i. 373, 375, 413; ii. 408

Altieri family, palace of, i. 107;

burial-place of, ii. 216

Amphitheatrum Castrense, ii. 131

Angelico, Fra, pictures by, ii. 216, 324, 348, 444;

tomb of, i. 219

Angelo, St., Castle, ii. 227;

Ponte, ii. 226

Anicii, Castle of the, ii. 362

Anio, the, ii. 31

Antemnæ, site of, ii. 420

Antinous, the, ii. 308

Apollo, Temple of, i. 296; ii. 134

Belvedere, ii. 311

Appia, Via, i. 372

Aqua Acetosa, ii. 420

Alexandrina, ii. 133

Argentina, i. 229

Bollicante, ii. 133

Claudia, ii. 113

Felice, ii. 124

Marcia, ii. 95

Aqueduct, Claudian, ii. 125

Arches—

Arco dell' Annunziata, ii. 380

di S. Lazzaro, ii. 393

Oscuro, ii. 420

dei Pantani, i. 165

of Constantine, i. 206

of Dolabella, i. 330

of Drusus, i. 387

of Gallienus, ii. 71

of Janus, i. 229

of Septimius Severus, i. 173;

miniature, 232

of Tiberius, i. 173

of Titus, i. 200

Arnolphus, ii. 373

Arpino, Cav. d', grave of, ii. 105

Artists, studios of, i. 30

Atticus, Herodes, story of, i. 414, 415

Augustus, Palace of, i. 280

Aurelian, Wall, i. 385;

Temple of the Sun built by, i. 436;

favourite residence of, ii. 12

Ave-Maria bell, i. 44

Aventine, the, i. 348

B.

Babuino, the, i. 36

Balconies, origin of, i. 61

Bambino, Il Santissimo, i. 151

Baptistery of the Lateran, ii. 96

Barberini,

Palazzo, i. 438

Cardinal, ii. 9

Casino of the, ii. 12

Castle of the, ii. 34

Garden of the, ii. 45

Barcaccia, the, i. 57

Basilicas (pagan)—

of Æmilius Paulus, i. 181

Constantine, i. 184; ii. 80

Julia, i. 175

in the Palace of the Cæsars, i. 282

Porcia, i. 182

Basilicas (Christian)—

Sessorian, ii. 131

S. Agnese fuori le Mura, ii. 26

S. Alessandro, ii. 32

S. Croce in Gerusalemme, ii. 128

Eudoxian, ii. 54

S. John Lateran, ii. 98

S. Lorenzo, ii. 136

S. Maria Maggiore, ii. 81

S. Pietro, ii. 242

S. Paolo fuori le Mura, ii. 402

S. Sebastiano, i. 416

S. Stefano, ii. 124

Baths—

of Agrippa, ii. 211

of Caracalla, i. 376

of Constantine, i. 436

of Diocletian, ii. 36, 38

of Livia, ii. 423

of Nero, ii. 202

of Titus, ii. 52

Befana, festival of the, ii. 202

Benedict, St., house inhabited by, ii. 368

Bernini, Palazzo, i. 73

Bocca della Verita, i. 233

Borghese, Camillo, tomb of, ii. 87

Cervaletto, farm at, ii. 85

Palace, i. 65

Piazza, i. 66

Villa, ii. 411

Casino, ii. 413

Chapel of, ii. 85

Borgia, family burial-place of, ii. 98

Cæsar, ii. 325

Lucrezia, ii. 62

Rodrigo, Pope Alexander VI., grave of, ii. 170;

empty tomb of, 269;

representations of the life of, 325

Borgo, the, ii. 235

Boschetto, the, i. 50

Bramante, ii. 244, 284, 308

Burial-Ground,

German, ii. 278

Jewish, i. 355

Protestant, ii. 397

Roman, ii. 144

C.

Cæsars, Palace of the, i. 273

Caius Gracchus, spot where he was killed, ii. 377

Caligula, Palace of, i. 292;

bridge of, 299;

obelisk brought to Rome by, ii. 238;

circus of, 283

Cameos, i. 29

Campaniles—

S. Benedetto a Piscinuola, ii. 368

S. Cecilia, ii. 372

S. Giovanni a Porta Latina, i. 384

S. Lorenzo in Lucina, i. 73

S. Lorenzo Pane e Perna, i. 468

S. Maria in Cosmedin, i. 234

S. Maria in Monticelli, ii. 182

S. Prassede, ii. 71

S. Pudenziana, i. 470

S. Silvestro, i. 74

S. Sisto, i. 382

Campo—

Militare, ii. 34

di Fiori, ii. 176

Campus Esquilinus, ii. 36

Campus Martius, ii. 148

Canova, i. 101; ii. 251, 266, 308, 347, 415

Capena, Porta, site of, i. 373;

historical interest of, 432

Capitol, the, i. 109—158

Cappuccini, piazza, ii. 7

Cemetery, 10

Caracci, Ann., tomb of, ii. 210

Carinæ, the, ii. 47

Caritas Romana, i. 241

Casale dei Pazzi, ii. 32

Castel Giubeleo, ii. 425

Castles of—

St. Angelo, ii. 227—234

the Alberteschi, ii. 368

the Anicii, ii. 368

the Anguillara, ii. 379

Crescenza, ii. 423

Rustica, ii. 135.

Catacombs—

of S. Agnese, ii. 29

of Calepodius, ii. 453

of St. Calixtus, i. 390—405

of S. Ciriaca, ii. 142—145

of S. Felicitas, ii. 20

of S. Felix, i. 49

of SS. Gianutus and Basilla, ii. 418

of S. Hippolytus, ii. 147

Jewish, i. 407

of SS. Nereo ed Achilleo, i. 408

of SS. Pietro e Marcellino, ii. 133

of S. Pretextatus, i. 405

of S. Ponziano, ii. 453

of S. Priscilla, ii. 20—24

of the Santi Quattro, ii. 125

of S. Sebastiano, i. 417

of St. Valentine, ii. 418

Cathedra Petri, ii. 261.

Catherine, S., of Siena, Church of, i. 459;

tomb of, ii. 217.

Cecilia. S., relics and tomb of, ii. 373;

house of, 375;

grave of, i. 397

Cemeteries—

See Burial-grounds

Cenci, tragedy of the, i. 260—267;

portraits of Lucrezia and Beatrice, i. 440;

grave of Beatrice, ii. 450

Centocellæ, ii. 133

Chapels—

of St. Andrew, i. 325;

of St. Andrew's head, ii. 421

Chapter House of S. Sisto, i. 382

Churches of—

S. Adriano, i. 190

S. Agata dei Goti, i. 461

S. Agnese, ii. 193

S. Agnese fuori le Mura, ii. 26

S. Agostino, ii. 157

S. Alessio, i. 362

S. Anastasia, i. 224

S. Andrea a Monte Cavallo, i. 444

S. Andrea delle Fratte, i. 75

S. Andrea della Valle, ii. 184

S. Angelo in Pescheria, i. 248

S. Antonio Abbate, ii. 78

S. Apollinare, ii. 159

SS. Apostoli, i. 100

Ara-Cœli, i. 117, 144

S. Balbina, i. 370

S. Bartolomeo, ii. 363

S. Benedetto a Piscinuola, ii. 368

S. Bernardo, ii. 39, 45

S. Bibiana, ii. 74

S. Brigitta, ii. 173

S. Buonaventura, i. 204

S. Caio, i. 443; ii. 45

S. Calisto, ii. 387

I. Cappuccini, ii. 7

La Caravita, i. 85

S. Carlo a Catinari, ii. 183

S. Carlo in Corso, i. 64

S. Carlo a Quattro Fontane, i. 43

S. Caterina de' Funari, i. 268

S. Caterina di Siena, i. 459; ii. 224

S. Cecilia, ii. 370

S. Celso in Banchi, ii. 224

S. Cesareo, i. 382

S. Claudio, i. 76

S. Clemente, i. 342

S. Cosimato, ii. 388

SS. Cosmo e Damiano, i. 191

S. Costanza, ii. 28

S. Crisogono, ii. 381

S. Crispino al Ponte, ii. 369

S. Croce in Gerusalemme, ii. 128

I Crociferi, i. 81

SS. Domenico e Sisto, i. 461

S. Dionisio, i. 474

Domine Quo Vadis, i. 389

S. Dorotea, ii. 388

English and American, ii. 410

S. Eusebio, ii. 77

S. Eustachio, ii. 203

S. Francesco di Paola, ii. 62

a Ripa, ii. 379

S. Francesca Romana, i. 195

Gesù e Maria, i. 61

S. Giacomo degli Incurabili, i. 61

S. Giacomo Scossa Cavalli, ii. 237

S. Giorgio in Velabro, i. 231

S. Giovanni Decollato, i. 239

S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini, ii. 225

S. Giovanni alla Lungara, ii. 439

SS. Giovanni e Paolo, i. 321, 327

S. Giovanni della Pigna, ii. 209

S. Giovanni a Porta Latina, i. 384

S. Girolamo della Carità, ii. 172

S. Girolamo degli Schiavoni, i. 60

S. Giuseppe dei Falegnami, i. 157

Greek, i. 54

S. Gregorio, i. 319, 322

S. Ignazio, i. 85

Il Gesù, i. 106

S. Isidoro, ii. 11

S. Ivo of Brittany, ii. 155

SS. Lorenzo e Damaso, ii. 178

S. Lorenzo in Fonte, i. 468

in Lucina, i. 73

fuori le Mura, ii. 136

Pane e Perna, i. 466

S. Luigi dei Francesi, ii. 200

S. Marcello, i. 87

S. Marco, i. 105

S. Maria degli Angeli, ii. 40

dell' Anima, ii. 160

in Aquiro, i. 79

Aventina, i. 365

in Campitelli, i. 269

in Cappella, ii. 370

della Concezione, ii. 7

in Cosmedin, i. 232

in Domenica, i. 332

delle Fornaci, ii. 456

Liberatrice, i. 190

di Loreto, i. 162

Maggiore, ii. 81

sopra Minerva, ii. 212

di Monserrato, ii. 170

in Monticelli, ii. 182

in Monti, i. 464

dell' Orto, ii. 378

della Pace, ii. 163

della Pietà in Campo Santo, ii. 278

del Popolo, i. 39

Scala Cœli, ii. 399

Traspontina, ii. 236

in Trastevere, ii. 382

in Trivia, i. 81

in Valicella, ii. 166

in Via Lata, i. 89

di Vienna, i. 162

della Vittoria, ii. 43

S. Marta, ii. 278

S. Martina, i. 188

S. Martino al Monte, ii. 63

S. Michaele in Sassia, ii. 280

SS. Nereo ed Achilleo, i. 379

S. Nicolo in Carcere, i. 240

in Tolentino, ii. 12

S. Onofrio, ii. 434

S. Onofrio in Campagna, ii. 428

dell' Orazione, ii. 175

S. Pancrazio, ii. 452

S. Pantaleone, ii. 188

S. Paolo fuori le Mura, ii. 403

Primo Eremita, i. 473

allé Tre Fontane, ii. 401

delle Perpetua Adoratrice del Divin Sacramento del Altare, i. 446

S. Pietro in Carcere, i. 153

SS. Pietro e Marcellino, ii. 122

S. Pietro in Montorio, ii. 449

in Vincoli, ii. 54

S. Prassede, ii. 65

S. Prisca, i. 367

S. Pudenziana, i. 469

SS. Quattro Incoronati, i. 340

SS. Rocco e Martino, i. 60

S. Sabba, i. 369

S. Sabina, i. 356

S. Salvatore in Lauro, ii. 224

S. Salvatore in Torrione, ii. 280

Il Santissimo Redentore, ii. 71

S. Sebastiano, i. 416

in Palatino, i. 203

S. Silvestro a Monte Cavallo, i. 459

S. Sisto, i. 381

S. Stefano, ii. 278

S. Stefano Rotondo, i. 333

S. Susanna, ii. 44

S. Sylvestro in Capite, i. 74

S. Teodoro, i. 223

S. Teresa, ii. 45

S. Tomaso dei Cenci, i. 260

S. Tomaso degli Inglesi, ii. 170

Trinità de' Monti, i. 52

Trinità dei Pellegrini, ii, 181

S. Urbano, i. 413

SS. Vincenzo ed Anastasio, ii. 400

S. Vitale, i. 474

S. Vito, ii. 71

Cicero, House of, i. 301;

received at the Porta Capena, 375

Cimeterio dei Tedeschi, oldest Christian burial-ground, ii. 278

Circus—

Agonalis, ii. 196

of Caligula, ii. 283

of Flaminius, site of, i. 268

of Maxentius, i. 422

Maximus, i. 288

of Nero, ii. 283

Clement, St., Church and house of. i. 342—347

Clivus Capitolinus, i. 170, 172

Martis, i. 388

Victoriæ, i. 292

Cloaca Maxima, i. 229

Cloisters—

of S. Alessio, i. 364

of the Angeli, ii. 42

of S. Gregorio, i. 322

of the Lateran, ii. 105

of S. Lorenzo, ii. 144

of S. Paolo, ii. 405

of S. Pietro in Vincoli, ii. 62

Cœlian Hill, i. 316—342

Coliseum, i. 207—220

Collatia, ruins of, ii. 135

College for English missionaries, ii. 171

Collegio di Propaganda Fede, i. 58

Collegio Romano, i. 87

Colonna, Agnese Gaetani, funeral urn of, ii. 273

Gardens, i. 458

Lorenzo, murder of, ii. 224

Oddone, tomb of, ii. 100

Palazzo, i. 98

Piazza, i. 77

Princess, tomb of, ii. 213

Vittoria, residence of, i. 75;

death of, ii. 387

Columbaria,—

of the Arruntia family, ii. 77

of the Freedmen of Octavia, i. 385

Columna Lactaria, i, 242

Columns—

Colonna della Vergine, ii, 80

of M. Antoninus, i. 77

of Antoninus Pius, ii. 334

of Piazza di Spagna, i. 57

of Phocas, i. 179

of S. Prassede, ii. 68

of Trajan, i. 160

of the Vatican Council, ii. 363

Connell, Daniel O', monument of, i. 462

Constantine, statue of, i. 118;

basilica of, i. 184;

arch of, i. 206;

frescoes representing the conversion of, i. 341;

baths of, i. 458;

frescoes of legendary history of, ii. 99;

erection of a basilica on the site of St. Peter's, by, ii. 242;

Cimeterio del Tedeschi, set apart by, ii. 278;

Saxa Rubra, site of decisive victory of, ii. 425

Convents of—

S. Agata in Suburra, i. 461

S. Alessio, i. 362

Ara-Cœli, i. 153

S. Bartolomeo, ii. 363

S. Bernardo, ii. 45

the Buon Pastore, ii. 439

S. Buenaventura, i. 204

S. Caterina, i. 460

S. Cecilia, ii. 370

S. Eusebio, ii. 77

S. Francesca Romana, i. 198

S. Francesco a Rapa, ii. 379

the Gesù, i. 107

S. Gregorio, i. 326

S. Maria degli Angeli, ii. 42

the Minerva, ii. 222

Monache Polacche, ii. 72

the Noviciate of the order of Jesus, i. 445

S. Onofrio, ii. 435

the Oratorians, ii. 166

S. Pancrazio, ii. 452

S. Paolo, ii. 387

S. Pietro in Vincoli, ii. 53

Poor Clares, ii. 388

the Pregatrici, ii. 12

S. Sabina, i. 355

the Sacré Cœur, i. 53

Santi Quattro Incoronati, i. 340, 342

Sepolte Vive, the, or Farnesiani nuns, i. 465

S. Silvestro a Monte Cavallo, i. 459

S. Sisto, i. 381

S. Tomaso in Formis, i. 331

Tor de Specchi, i. 270

Ursuline nuns, i. 64,

Visitandine nuns, i. 304

Cordieri, Nicolo, statues by, i. 325, 326; ii. 99, 214

Cordonnata, La, i. 118

Corsini, Palazzo, ii. 439

Chapel of the, ii. 103

Corso, the, i. 60

Crypts—

of S. Alessio, i. 364

of SS. Cosmo e Damiano, i. 191

of S. Croce in Gerusalemme, ii. 130

of S. Martina, i. 188

of S. Martino al Monte, ii. 63

of St. Peter's, ii. 267

of S. Prassede, ii. 68

Crypto-Porticus, i. 281

Cybele, Temple of, i. 294;

Sacred Stone of, 294;

washing the statue of, ii. 408

D.

Dalmatica di Papa San Leone, in Treasury of St. Peter's, ii. 276

Damasus, Pope St., inscriptions of, i. 396, 407, 418

Diana, Temple of, i. 353

Diavolo, Casa del, ii. 124

Diocletian, Baths of, ii. 38

Doctors in Rome, i. 28

Domenichino, his most famous fresco, i. 325;

his masterpiece, ii. 349

Dominic, St., Convent of, i. 355;

orange-tree of, 356;

vision of, 358;

legends of, 359, 360;

first residence of, 381;

Divine mission of, 382;

place of first meeting with St. Francis, ii. 106

Domitian. Palace of, i. 312;

martyrs under, 334

Doria, Palazzo, i. 93;

Villa, ii. 454.

Dorotea, Sta., legend of, ii. 390

Drawing, materials, shops for, i. 29;

list of subjects for, 34;

best months for, in Rome, 35

E.

Easter benediction, ceremony of the, ii. 240, 241

Egeria, Fountain of, i. 375;

Grotto and grove of, 413

Esquiline Hill, ii. 46—93

Eustace, St., legend of the conversion of, ii. 204.

F.

Fabii, scene of the destruction of the, ii. 424

Farnese, Palazzo, ii 174;

Palazzetto, 178

Faustulus, Hut of, i. 288

Festa degli Artisti, ii. 135

Filomena, Sta., ii. 22

Fiori, Mario di, ii. 442

Fontana, works of, ii. 89, 93, 96, 114, 238, 257, 391

Fontana Paolina, ii. 451

Forums—

of Augustus, i. 164

Boarium, i. 227

of Nerva, i. 165

Romanum, i. 168—185

of Trajan, i. 159

Fountains—

of the Barcaccia, i. 57

of Egeria, i. 375

of S. Maria degli Angeli, ii. 42

of S. Maria in Cosmedin, i. 235

of S. Maria in Trastevere, ii. 382

of the Mascherone, ii. 175

of Palazzo Aldobrandini, i. 461

in Palace of the Senator, i. 120

in Piazza Navona, ii. 196

in Piazza Pia, ii. 236

of the Tantarughe, i. 267

Paolina, ii. 451

of the Piazza Montanara, i. 242

of the Ponte Sisto, ii. 391

attributed to the prayers of Peter and Paul in prison, i. 156

of the Quirinal, i. 478

of the Termini, ii. 42

of the Tre Fontane, ii. 401

of Trevi, i. 79

Francis, St., relics of, ii. 379;

celebration of Christmas by, 380

Frangipani family, castle of the, i. 217;

fortress of the, ii. 62

G.

Galileo, place of trial of, ii. 222

Gardens—

of Adonis, i. 305

of Barberini Palace, i. 443

Botanic, ii. 439

Colonna, i. 458

containing Columbaria, i. 386

Corsini, ii. 445

Government, i. 379

of the Pincio, i. 46

Priorato, i. 365

of the Quirinal, i. 445

Vatican, ii. 333

of S. Silvia, i. 324

of Sallust, ii. 12

of Villa Medici, i. 49

of Villa Massimo, ii. 122

of Villa Negroni, ii. 35

of Villa Wolkonski, ii. 123

Germale, the, i. 279

Gesù Nazareno, miracle-working picture of, ii. 182

Ghetto, the, i. 250;

burial-ground for, 355

Giardino della Pigna, ii. 333

Giotto, works of, ii. 104, 215, 246, 277, 324

Græcostasis, i. 171

Gregory, St., legends of, i. 322; ii. 229;

Church of, i. 322;

monastic cell of, 324;

statue of, 326;

family to which he belonged, 363

Grottoes of Cerbara, ii. 135

Guidi, antiquity vendor, i. 379

Guido, important works of, i. 73, 325; ii. 7

H.

Heads of Lions, on bank of the Tiber, i. 239

Horti Lamiana, ii. 76

Hospitals—

Sta. Galla, i. 239

S. Gallicano, ii. 382

of S. Giacomo degli Incurabili, i. 61

German, ii. 161

of S. Giovanni Calabrita, ii. 365

of S. Giovanni Laterano, ii. 95

in Mausoleum of Augustus, i. 64

S. Michaele, ii. 376

of Santa Maria in Capella, ii. 370

of San Rocco, i. 60

of Santo Spirito, ii. 237

of the Trinità dei Pellegrini, ii. 181

Houses—

of Aquila and Priscilla, i. 368

Cicero, i. 301

Claude Lorraine, i. 54

S. Clement, i. 347

Clodius, i. 300

Crassus, i. 301

Drusus and Antonia, i. 292

the Fornarina, ii. 368

Hortensius, i. 304

Lucrezia Borgia, ii. 62

Mark Antony, i. 303

Nero's Golden, ii. 52

of Nicholas Poussin, i. 54

Octavius and Afra, i. 277

Palestrina, i. 339

Pudens, i. 469

Poets, ii. 50

Pompey, ii. 48

Pomponius Atticus, i. 435

the Queen of Poland, i. 54

Raphael, ii. 225

Rienzi, i. 236

S. Silvia, i. 321

Spurius Mælius, i. 272

the "Violinista," ii. 225

I.

Ignatius, S., rooms in which he lived, i. 107;

his martyrdom, 211

Inquisition, Palace of the, ii. 278

Intermontium, the, i. 116

Island in the Tiber, ii. 360—62

J.

Janiculan, the, ii. 432—434

Jesuits, Order of the, established, ii. 262;

re-established, 264

Jews, quarter of the, i. 250;

history of, in Rome, from early times, 250;

persecution of, 251, 252;

terms of occupation of houses by, 253;

revocation of laws against, 254;

population, government, and mortality, 255;

synagogue of, 256;

burial-ground of, 355;

cupidity of, 355;

catacomb of, 407;

custom of, on the election of a pope, ii. 166

Jupiter, Capitolinus, temples of, i. 111; ii. 366;

—Tonans,—Feretrius,—Pistor, temples of, i. 115;

statue of, 115;

—Stator, temple of, 247, 278;

—Inventor, temple of, ii. 392

K.

Kircherian Museum. i. 88

L.

La Madonna Consolatrice degli Afflitti, miraculous picture, ii. 221

Lanfranco, tomb of, ii. 385

Laocoon, the, ii. 309

Lares, shrine of the, i. 382

Lateran, obelisk of the, ii. 95;

baptistery of, 96;

cloisters of, 104;

five General Councils held at, 105;

ancient palace of, 108;

modern palace of, 114;

Christian Museum, 117;

Picture Gallery, 118;

School of Music, 121

Libraries, i. 29

Barberini, i. 437

Bibliotheca Casanatensis, ii. 222

of the Collegio Romano, i. 88

Corsini, ii. 445

of the Chiesa Nuova, ii. 167

of Palazzo Chigi, i. 76

of Santa Croce, ii. 131

of the Vatican, ii. 322

Locanda dell' Orso, ii. 223

Loggie of Raphael, ii. 337

Lorenzo, St., almsgiving of, i. 333;

sketch of life of, ii. 137;

trial of i. 283;

martyrdom of, i. 446;

burial-place of, 143;

cemetery of, 144

Lottery, Roman weekly drawing of the, ii. 198

Loyola, Ignatius, residence of, i. 107;

church where he was wont to preach, ii. 170

Lunatic Asylum, ii. 439

Lunghezza, ii. 135

Lupercal, the, i. 290

Luther, residence of, in Rome, i. 42

M.

Macellum Magnum, i. 334

Maderno, Stefano, masterpiece of, ii. 373

Malaria the, i. 21

Maldacchini, Olympia, influence of, ii. 197;

villa built by, 455

Mamertine Prisons, i. 153

Manufactory of Mosaics, ii. 359

Maranna, i. 375

Maratta, Carlo, monument of, ii. 40

Marmorata, the, ii. 393

Mars, temples of, i. 164, 373, 388

Martyrdoms—

best authenticated, i. 334—338

of Christians, place of, ii. 390

of S. Agata, i. 462

of S. Agnes, ii. 27

of S. Cecilia, ii. 371

of S. Ignatius, i. 211

of S. Gaudentius, i. 209

of S. Lorenzo, i. 466

of S. Martina, i. 212

of St. Paul, ii. 401

of St. Peter, ii. 451

of S. Prisca, i. 212

Pietra di Paragone, used in the, ii. 278

Masaccio, frescoes by, i. 343

Mausoleum of Augustus, i. 62;

statues at entrance of, 474

of Hadrian, ii. 227, 233

Medici, Villa, i. 49;

tombs of the Medici family, ii. 218, 219

Melozzo da Forli, important pictures by, i. 453; ii. 276, 357

Mentana, ii. 33

Meta Sudans, i. 206

Michael Angelo, works attributed to, i. 117, 119, 332, 334; ii. 58, 60, 163, 174, 210, 218;

the Moses of, ii. 58;

design of, for St. Peter's, ii. 244;

statue by, in St. Peter's, ii. 256;

frescoes by, ii. 285;

his most perfect work, ii. 388

Milliarium Aureum, i. 173

Mills of Belisarius, ii. 366

Miserere, of Passion Week, ii. 296

Monasteries—

of S. Andrew, i. 321

of S. Anna. ii. 387

of the Chiesa Nuova, ii. 167

of S. Croce, ii. 131

of S. Eusebio, ii. 77

of the Passionists, i. 329

Mons Sacer, ii. 32

Monte Caprino, i. 117

Cavallo, i. 446

Citorio, i. 78

Giordano, ii. 166

del Grano, ii. 124

Mario, ii. 427

di Pietà, ii. 181

Rotondo, ii. 34

Sacro (Mons Sacer), ii. 32

Testaccio, ii. 397

Morrà, national game of the Trasteverini, ii. 367

Mosaics—

in S. Cecilia, ii. 374

in S. Cesareo, i. 383

in S. Antonio, ii. 79

in S. Croce, ii. 130

in S. Clemente, i. 345

at S. Tommaso in Formis, i. 351

of SS. Cosmo and Damian, i. 192

in Crypt of St. Peter's, ii. 268, 273

in S. Francesca Romana, i. 198

in Jewish Catacomb, i. 407

in the Lateran, ii. 100

in S. Lorenzo, ii. 138

in Sta. Maria in Cosmedin, i. 233

in Domenica, i. 333

Maggiore, ii. 82, 83

Scala Cœli, ii. 400

in Trastevere, ii. 383, 385—387

in S. Martino al Monte, ii. 64

in the Navicella, i. 333

in SS. Nereo ed Achilleo, i. 380

in the Oratory of S. Venanzio, ii. 97

in the Orto del Paradiso, ii. 67

in S. Paolo fuori le Mura, ii. 405, 406

Papal Manufactory of, ii. 359

in St. Peter's, ii. 252, 256, 259, 260, 261, 263, 264

in S. Pietro in Vincoli, ii. 57

in S. Prassede, ii. 70

in S. Pudenziana, i. 471

in the Quirinal Palace, i. 454

in S. Sabina, i. 357

in the Sala Rotondo, ii. 318

in the Sancta Sanctorum, ii. 113

in S. Stefano Rotondo, i. 339

in S. Teodoro, i. 223

found at Torre Nuova, ii. 414

in the Triclinium of the Palace of Lateran, ii. 109

Muro-Torto, i. 46

Museo, Chiaramonti, ii. 305

Pio-Clementino, ii. 305

Museums—

Capitoline, i. 122

Christian, of the Lateran, ii. 117

Vatican, of Christian Antiquities, ii. 324

Egyptian, ii 331

Etruscan, ii. 327—331

Kircherian, i. 88

N.

Navicella, the, i. 330;

Mosaic of, ii. 246

Navona, Piazza, ii. 196

Naumachia, remnant of the pleasures of the, ii. 198

Neri, S. Filippo, i. 418;

chapel of, ii. 166;

library founded by, ii. 167;

foundation of Oratorians by, ii. 169;

hospital founded by, ii. 181;

portrait of, ii. 181;

resuscitation to life by, ii. 187

Nero, Grave of, i. 38;

Statue of, i. 200;

Palace of, i. 311;

Aqueduct of, i. 330;

Martyrs under, i. 335;

Tower of, i. 459;

death of, ii. 25;

Golden House of, ii. 52;

site of Baths of, ii. 202

Notte Vaticane, ii. 336

Nymphæum—

of S. Urbano, i. 413

of the Val d' Inferno, ii. 430

O.

Obelisk—

of the Esquiline, ii. 93

of the Villa Mattel, i. 332

of the Lateran, ii. 95

of the Minerva, ii. 211

of the Monte Cavallo, i. 446

Citorio, i. 78

of the Pantheon, ii. 211

of St. Peter's, ii. 238, 239

of the Piazza Navona, ii. 196

of the Pincio, i. 46

of the Piazza del Popolo, i. 37

of the Trinità de' Monti, i. 51

Observatory of the Collegio Romano, i. 88

Orti Farnesiani, i. 276

Osa, the river, ii. 135

Osteria delle Frattocchie, i. 429

Ostia, ii. 409

Ostian Gate, ii. 394, 399

Overbeck, Studio of, ii. 45

P.

Palaces—

Albani, i. 443

Aldobrandini, i. 461

Altemps, ii. 160

Altieri, i. 107

of Augustus, i. 280

Barberini, i. 436

Bernini, i. 73

Borghese, i. 65;

gallery in, 66

Braschi, ii. 188

Buonaparte, i. 103

of the Cæsars, i. 250

Caëtani, i. 268

Caffarelli, i. 142

of Caligula, i. 292

of the Cancelleria, ii. 177

Cardelli, ii. 155

Cenci, i. 259

Chigi, i. 76

Colonna, gallery in, i. 98

of the Conservators, i. 135

of the Consulta, i. 448

Corsini, ii. 439

Costaguti, i. 267

of Domitian, i. 312

Doria, i. 93;

gallery in, 94

Falconieri, ii. 175

Farnese, ii. 174

Farnesina, ii. 388

Gabrielli, ii. 166

Galitzin, ii. 155

Giraud, ii. 236

Giustiniani, ii. 202

del Governo Vecchio, ii. 165

Lancellotti, ii. 197

of the Lateran, ancient, ii. 108

of the Lateran, modern, ii. 114

Linote, ii. 178

Madama, ii. 198

Margana, i. 270

Massimo alle Colonne, ii. 186

Mattei, i. 268

Moroni, ii. 387

Muto-Savorelli, i. 103

of Nero, i. 311

Odescalchi, i. 98

Orsini, ii. 360

Pamfili, ii. 196

Parisani, i. 76

Patrizi, ii. 202

Pio, ii. 184

Poli, i. 81

Ponziani, ii. 369

of Pope Honorius III., i. 361

of the Quirinal, i. 449

della Regina di Polonia, i. 54

Rospigliosi, i. 434, 456

Ruspoli, i. 72

Sacchetti, ii. 176

Salviati, ii. 439

Santa Croce, ii. 182

Sciarra, i. 82

of the Senator, i. 120

Spada alla Regola, ii. 178

di Spagna, i. 57

of Tiberius, i. 291

Torlonia, i. 104

del Santo Uffizio, ii. 278

Valentini, i. 98

Venezia, i. 105

of Vespasian, i. 281

Vidoni, ii. 185

Palatine, the, i. 273—315

Pantheon, the, ii. 204—211

Parco di San Gregorio, i. 319

Pasquinades, ii. 188—192

Pasquino, ii. 188

Paul, St., house in which he lodged, i. 89;

trial of, in Palace of the Cæsars, i. 284;

prison of, i. 309;

skull of, ii. 100;

shrine of, ii. 273;

parting of, with St. Peter, ii. 398;

martyrdom of, ii. 399, 402;

pillar to which he was bound, ii. 401;

festivals of, ii. 408

Perretti, Cardinal, his residence at the Villa Negroni, ii. 35

Peruzzi, Baldassare, works of, ii. 160, 165, 178, 186;

tomb of, in the Pantheon, ii. 209;

design of, for St. Peter's, ii. 244;

frescoes by, ii. 448

Pescheria, the, i. 249

Peter, St., dungeon occupied by, in Mamertine Prisons, i. 153;

legend relating to, concerning Simon Magus, i. 197;

tradition of, i. 379;

legend relating to persecution of, ii. 389;

burial-place of, ii. 274;

preservation of his chains, ii. 54, 61;

relics of, ii. 61, 100;

statues of, ii. 226, 254;

episcopal chair of, ii. 261;

shrine and sarcophagus of, ii. 273;

parting of, with St. Paul, ii. 398;

crucifixion of, ii. 451

Photographers, i. 29

Pianta Capitolina, i. 123

Piazzas—

Barberini, i. 436

Bocca della Verità, ii. 392

Borghese, i. 66

del Campidoglio, i. 119

di Campitelli, i. 269

Campo di Fiore, ii. 176

Capo di Ferro, ii. 178

of the Cappuccini, ii. 7

Colonna, i. 76

di S. Eustachio, ii. 202

del Gesù, i. 108

di S. Giovanni, ii. 95

della Guidecca, i. 259

of S. Maria Maggiore, ii. 80

in Monti, i. 464

della Minerva, ii. 211

Montanara, i. 242

of the Monte Cavallo, i. 446

Monte Citorio, i. 78

of the Navicella, i. 330

Navona, ii. 196

del Orologio, ii. 166

of St. Peter's, ii. 238—240

Pia, ii. 236

del Popolo, i. 36

della Rotonda, ii. 211

Rusticucci, ii. 238

Scossa Cavalli, ii. 236

della Scuola, i. 256

di Spagna, i. 56, 58

delle Tartarughe, i. 267

del Tritone, i. 436

Picture Galleries—

Palazzo Barberini, i. 439

Borghese, i. 66

Capitoline, i. 140

Palace of the Lateran, ii. 118

Quirinal, i. 455

Palazzo Colonna, i. 99

Corsini, ii. 442

Doria, i. 94

Mattei, i. 268

Sciarra, i. 82

the Vatican, ii. 347, 359

Pierleoni, fortress of the, i. 245

Pietà, in S. Croce, ii. 130

in the Lateran, ii. 103, 104

in S. Maria dell' Anima, ii. 163

of S. Peter's, ii. 256

Pietra di Paragone, ii. 278

Pig-Market, Roman mode of killing pigs, ii. 417

Pigna, in garden of the Vatican, ii. 334

Pincio, the, i. 43, 44

Piscina Publica, i. 383

Plautilla, legend of, ii. 398, 399

Pollajuolo, Antonio, tomb of, ii. 56

Pompey, statue of, ii. 179;

theatre of, ii. 184

Ponte—

S. Angelo, ii. 226

S. Bartolomeo, ii. 366

Molle, ii. 421

Nomentana, ii. 31

di Nono, ii. 134

Quattro Capi, ii. 360

Rotto, i. 237; ii. 369

Salara, ii. 19

Sisto, ii. 390

Pontecello, stream of, i. 429

Popolo, Piazza del, i. 36

Prati del, ii. 397

Porta del, i. 37; ii. 422

Church of S. Maria del, i. 39

Porta, Giacomo della, works of, ii. 174, 244, 251, 400, 401

Guglielmo della, ii. 262

Porta—

Angelica, ii. 430

Asinaria, ii. 107

Capena, i. 373

Carmentalis, i. 239

Cavalleggieri, ii. 280

Collina, ii. 16

Furba, ii. 124

S. Giovanni, ii. 107

Latina, i. 384

S. Lorenzo, ii. 135

Maggiore, ii. 132

Mugonia, i. 274

Nomentana, ii. 24

Ostiensis, ii. 394

Palatii, i. 279

S. Pancrazio, ii. 452

S. Paolo, ii. 393

Pia, ii. 24

Pinciana, ii. 16

del Popolo, ii. 410

Portese, ii. 377

Romana, i. 274

Salara, ii. 16

Salutaria, i. 435

Santa, ii. 82;

ceremony of the destruction of the wall of, 248

S. Sebastiano, i. 387

Settimiana, ii. 388, 448

Sto. Spirito, ii. 434

Trigemina, ii. 392

Porticos—

of Baths of Constantine, i. 458

Leonino, ii. 102

of Livia, i. 198

of Octavia, i. 247

of Pallas Minerva, i. 165

of the Pantheon, ii. 206

of Temple of Mars, i. 388

of Quirinus, i. 435

of Theatre of Pompey, ii. 184

Poussin, Niccolas, i, 52;

house of, 54;

tomb of, 73

Prata Quinctia, i. 59

Presepio, origin of the, ii. 380

Pretorian Camp, remains of, ii. 34

Prima Porta, ii. 423

Prisons—

Carceri Nuove, ii. 176

in Castle of St. Angelo, ii. 234

the Island in the Tiber used as, in imperial times, ii. 362

Mamertine, i. 153

for Women, ii. 42

Propaganda, the, i. 59

Protestant Cemetery, ii. 395

Churches, ii. 410

Protomoteca, i. 136

Pseudo-Aventine, i. 368

Pyramid, of Caius Cestius, ii. 394

of Scipio Africanus, ii. 236

Q.

Quattro Fontane, ii. 34, 45

Quirinal, i. 433—455

R.

Railway Station, ii. 35

Raphael, painter, sculptor, and architect, i. 41;

Works of, 67, 83, 96, 167, 305, 439; ii. 102, 158, 164, 185;

tomb of, in the Pantheon, 209;

house of, 225;

design of, for St. Peter's, 244;

cartoons of, 321;

Loggie of, 337;

frescoes by, 338, 340—343, 345, 446, 448;

pictures by, 348, 350, 356;

his last work, ii. 351;

Villa of, 416

Regia, site of the, i. 178

Relics—

of S. Andrew, ii. 253, 421, 456

Arm of St. Thomas à Becket, ii. 172

Brains of St. Thomas à Becket, ii. 92

Body of St. Bartholomew, ii. 364

ait S.S. Cosmo and Damian, i. 192

Chains of St. Peter, ii. 61

Chair of St. Peter, ii. 261

Column to which our Saviour is reputed to have been bound, ii. 68

of S. Carlo Borromeo, ii. 69; ii. 167

of S. Dominic, i. 360

of S. Francesca Romana, i. 270

of St. Francis, ii. 379

of Ignatius Loyola, i. 107

list of, in Lateran, ii. 102

in S. Martino al Monte, ii. 64

of St Peter's, exhibition of, ii. 253, 254

in Sancta Sanctorum, ii. 112, 113

Sancta Culla, ii. 91

Santa Scala, ii. 110

of Tasso, ii. 437

Title of the True Cross, exhibition of, ii. 129

in Treasury of St. Peter's, ii. 276

Remus, temple of, i. 191

Ripetta, the, i. 37;

Quay of the, 59

Ripresa dei Barberi, i. 105

Roman Pearls, i. 29

Romana, Sta. Francesca, favourite saint of the Romans, i. 148; ii. 136;

her death, i. 195; ii. 370;

miracle attributed to, ii. 378;

vineyard of, ii. 398

Rome, statue so called, ii. 35

Romulus and Remus, legend of, i. 288;

walls of, 305;

connection with Aventine, 349;

temple to, 434

Rosa, Salvator, i. 94, 95;

monument of, ii. 40

Rospigliosi, Palazzo, i. 456

Rupe Tarpeia, i. 142

S.

Sacchi, Andrea, grave of, ii. 105

Sacer, Mons, ii. 32

Sala degli Animali, ii. 313

della Biga, ii. 319

di Constantino, ii. 340

a Croce Greca, ii. 319

Ducale, ii. 298

delle Muse, ii. 317

Sala delle Regia, ii. 285

Rotonda, ii. 318

Salita di S. Onofrio, ii. 434

Sancta Sanctorum, in Palace of Lateran, ii. 111

Sangallo, Antonio di, works of, ii. 174, 244, 285

Sansovino, Andrea, statue by, ii. 158

Santa Scala, ii. 110

Scannabecchi, stream of, ii. 425

Schools—

Castigliana, i. 256

Catilana, i. 256

for Music, in the Middle Ages, ii. 121

Scuola Nuova, i. 256

Siciliana, i. 256

del Tempio, i. 256

Sciarra, Palazzo, i. 82

Scipios, Tomb of the, i. 385

Sculptors, studios of, i. 31

Sebastian, St., place of martyrdom of, i. 203;

fresco, relating to legend of, ii. 56;

statues of, i. 417; ii. 194

Seminario Romano, ii. 159

Septizonium of Severus, i. 312

Seven Hills of Rome, i. 298

Shops—

for Antiquities, i. 29

Arvotti's, the famous Roman-scarf shop, ii. 198

Bookbinder's, i. 30

Booksellers', i. 29

for Bronzes, i. 29

for Cameos, i. 29

for Carpets and small house articles, i. 30

for Drawing materials, i. 29

English Grocer's, i. 30

Engraver's, i. 30

for Engravings, i. 29

German Baker's, i. 30

for Gloves, i. 30

Italian Grocer and Wine-Merchant's, i. 30

Jewellers', i. 29

for Lace, well-known, i. 267

for Ladies' dresses, i. 30

for Mosaics, i. 29

for Oil, Candles, and Wood, &c., i. 30

for Roman Ribbons and Shawls, i. 30

for Roman Pearls, i. 29

Shoemakers', i. 30

Tailors', i. 30

St. Peter's, first sight of, i. 17;

view of, from the Pincio, 44;

distant view of, from Villa Medici, 51;

"View of, through the Keyhole," 365;

the approach to, ii. 238;

early history of buildings on the site of, 242;

the building of, 244;

expenses of building, 245;

façade, 245;

vestibule, 246;

entrance of the Cathedral, 249;

nave, 251;

dimensions of building, 251;

cupola, 252;

Baldacchino, 252;

relics, 253;

statues, 254, 255;

chapels, 256—258;

monuments, 259—266;

tribune, 261;

chair of, 261;

confessionals, 267;

crypt of, 267—274;

sarcophagi, 270—274;

dome of, 275;

sacristy of, 275;

treasury of, 276;

archives of, 277;

best view of, 454

Stanze, d'Eliodoro, ii. 341

of the Incendio del Borgo, ii. 345

della Segnatura, ii. 342

Statues of—

Abbate Luigi, ii. 186

S. Agnese, ii. 194

Agrippa, ii. 206

S. Anastasia, i. 224

Antinous, the, ii. 308

Aristotle, ii. 180

Augustus, ii. 206, 424

Barberini Palace, the, i. 438

Benedict XIII., i. 303

S. Bruno, ii. 40

Calumny, i. 75

Capitoline Gallery, the, 123—135

Castor and Pollux, i. 118

S. Cecilia, ii. 373

Chapel of the Sacrament, the, ii. 89

Christian Museum, the, ii. 117

Clœlia, i. 199

Collection of, in Palazzo Sacchetti, ii. 176

Colossal, Minerva, ii. 35

Constantine, ii. 106

Corsini Chapel, the, ii. 103

Discobolus, the, ii. 186

Domitian, i. 179

Drusus, i. 387

Egyptian Museum, the, ii. 332

S. Gregorio, i. 326

Gregory XVI., ii. 405

Hall of the Senators, the, i. 121

Henry IV., ii. 99

S. Jerome, i. 60

S. John the Baptist, i. 344

Julius II., on tomb, ii. 59, 60

Juno, i. 112

Jupiter, i. 112

Justice, i. 378

S. Lorenzo, ii. 137

Marcus Aurelius, i. 119; ii. 186

Mars, ii. 14

S. Martina, i. 188

Mausoleum of Augustus, the, i. 447

Minerva, i. 112

Moses, ii. 42, 59

Nile, the, i. 184

Orpheus, ii. 51

Pasquino, ii. 188

Peter and Paul, ii. 130

S. Peter's, balustrade and steps of, ii. 245, 246;

nave, 254;

crypt of, 268, 273

Philip IV. of Spain, ii. 82

Pincio, the, i. 43

Pompey, at the foot of which Cæsar fell, ii. 179

Porta Pia, ii. 24

Raphael, by, i. 41

S. Sebastian, ii. 194, 221

S. Silvia, i. 325

Torso Belvidere, ii. 306

Trajan, i. 161

Vatican, the, ii. 300—322

Vatican Library, the, ii. 324

Villa Albani, the, ii. 18

Villa Borghese, the, ii. 414—416

Villa Pamfili Doria, the, ii. 454

Stone, on which Abraham was about to offer Isaac, ii. 237

Sacred, legend of, i. 294

Streets—see Via

Studios—

Artists', i. 30

of Overbeck, ii. 45

Sculptors', i. 31

Suburra, the, ii. 49

Summa Via Nova, i. 277

Sun, Aurelian's Temple of the, i. 436, 458

Sylvester, ancient Chair and Mitre of, ii. 64

T.

Tarquin, site of camp of, ii. 378

Tasso, Monument of, ii. 436;

death of, 437;

remains of oak planted by, 438;

annual commemoration of, at the Accademia, 439

Teatino, Don Gaëtano di, founder of the Order of the Theatins, ii. 388

Tempesta, i. 334, 457; ii. 226, 337

Tempietto, on the Pincio, i. 54;

on site of St. Peter's crucifixion, ii. 451

Temples—

of Æsculapius, ii. 364

Antoninus and Faustina, i. 182

Apollo, i. 296; ii. 134

the Aventine, i. 351—353

Bacchus, i. 412

Castor and Pollux, i. 175

Ceres, i. 227

Cybele, i. 294

Fides, i. 114

Fortuna Virilis, i. 235

Muliebris, ii. 125

Fortune, i. 228

Health and Fever, i. 435

Honour and Virtue, i. 115

on the Island, ii. 363

of Janus Quirinus, i. 180

Julius Cæesar, i. 183

Juno, i. 247

Moneta, i. 115

Sospita, i. 298

Jupiter Capitolinus, i. 111—114

Feretrius, i. 115

Stator, i. 247, 278

Tonans, i. 115

Liber, i. 227

Libera, i. 227

Mars, i. 114

Ultor, i. 163, 164

in Memory of the French who fell in the siege of Rome, ii. 455

of Minerva, i. 298

Moonlight, i. 298

Neptune, i. 79

Peace, i. 184

Piety, i. 241

Remus, i. 191

Romulus, i. 434

Saturn, i. 172

the Sun, i. 117

Tellus, ii. 48

Venus Erycina, i. 114

Venus and Rome, last Pagan, in use, i. 199

Vespasian, i. 171

Vesta, i. 176, 235

Victory, i. 294

Tenerani, works of, ii. 221, 264, 407

Termini, the, ii. 34

Terraces of—

the Pincio, i. 43

the Villa Albani, view from. ii. 17

Doria, ii. 454

Medici, i. 49

Theatres of—

Apollo, the, ii. 224 (modern)

Balbus, ii. 153

Marcellus, i. 244

Palace of the Cæsars, in, i. 288

Pompey, ii. 153, 184

Thorwaldsen, works of, i. 188, 455; ii. 210, 264, 300

Tiber, inundations of the, i. 222;

Island in the, ii. 361;

picturesque views on the banks of, 421

Tiberius, Arch of, i. 173;

Palace of, 291

Tigellum Sororis, ii. 49

Titus, Arch of, i. 200;

Baths of, ii. 52

Tombs—

of Adam of Hertford, Bishop of London, ii. 372

in Ara-Cœli, i. 147, 148

of the Baker Eurysaces, ii. 132

Bastari, ii. 385

Bernardino Capella, i. 339

Bibulus, i. 105

the Cæcilii, i. 395

Caius Cestius, ii. 394

Camillo Borghese, ii. 87

in the Campus Esquilinus, ii. 36

of Carlo Maratta, ii. 40

Cardinal Adimari, i. 196

d'Alençon, ii, 385

Barberini, ii. 9

Fortiguerra, ii. 372

Gonsalvi, i. 87; ii. 90

Guido di Balneo, i. 364

Mai, i. 225

Pacca, i. 269

Rovarella, i. 344

Vulcani, i. 196

Zurla, i. 323

Casale Rotondo, i. 428

of Cecilia Metella, i. 422

in Chapel of the Rosary, i. 359

of Clement VII., ii. 219

IX., ii. 84

XIV., i. 101

S. Constantia, ii. 28

S. Cosmo and Damian, i. 191

destruction of, in old Basilica of St. Peter's, ii. 257—266

of Daniel O'Connell, i. 462

Doric, relic of republican times, i. 105

of Emmanuel IV., i. 444

Francesca di Ponziani, i. 195

eminent Frenchmen, ii. 200

Geta, i. 388

Gibson, the sculptor, ii. 397

Gregory XI., i. 196

XIV., i. 85

S. Helena, ii. 133

the Historian of the popes, ii. 92

the Horatii and Curiatii, i. 427

Imperia, i. 323

John Lascaris, i. 463

Julius II., ii. 59

Knights of Malta, i. 365

Lanfranco, ii. 385

Leo X., ii. 218

in S. Maria del Popolo, i. 39—42

of Martha Swinburne, ii. 171

Sta. Martina, i. 188

Munoz de Zamora, i. 358

Nero, i. 38

Nicholas IV., ii. 84

Nicholas Poussin, i. 73

Painters, in the Pantheon, ii. 209, 210

Paul IV., ii. 215

Pius V., ii. 89

Pompey, i. 429

Pope St. Cornelius, i. 399

Melchiades, i. 398

in S. Prassede, ii. 69

of Prince Altieri, i. 269

Princess Colonna, ii. 213

Ruins of, i. 426, 428, 429

of Salvator Rosa, ii. 40

the Scipios, i. 385

Sixtus V., ii. 89

Bishop Spinelli, i. 365

the Stuarts, ii. 266

Sylla, i. 37

Temple of Divus Rediculus, i. 416

of Torquemada, ii. 213

Torre—

degli Anicii, ii. 362

di Babele, i. 460

dei Conti, ii. 48, 54

del Grillo, i. 460

Marancia, i. 408

Mellina, ii. 193

Mezza Strada, mediæval fortress, i. 427

delle Milizie, i. 460

Nomentana, ii. 32

di Nona, ii. 223

Nuova, ii. 133, 414

Pernice, ii. 133

Pignatarra, ii. 133

di Quinto, ii. 423

Sanguinea, ii. 160

dei Schiavi, ii. 133

della Scimia (Hilda's Tower), ii. 156

di Selce, i. 429

Tre Teste, ii. 134

Torretta del Palatino, view from, i. 298

Towers—

Capitol, of the, i. 121

Frangipani, of the, ii. 62

Mecænas, of, ii. 65

Mediæval, of S. Lucia in Selce, ii. 65

Trastevere, the, i. 237;

its present condition, characteristics of its inhabitants, its national games, ii. 367

Trattorie, resort of lower orders to, ii. 422

Travellers, hurried, scheme for, in visiting Rome, i. 32;

first lesson in Roman Geography for, 36;

interesting excursions for, ii. 426;

objects of interest for Irish, 450

Tre Fontane, the, ii. 399

Trevi, Fountain of, i. 79

Trophies of Marius, ii. 74

Turrita, Jacopo da, mosaics by, ii. 83

U.

Udine, Giovanni da, ii. 300, 324, 426, 448

Umbilicus Romæ, i. 173

University of the Sapienza, ii. 202

V.

Vaga, Pierino del, tomb of, ii. 209

Val d'Inferno, ii. 430

Valleys—

of the Almo, i. 388

Caffarelle, i. 390

between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills, i. 222

Valley between Palatine and Aventine, i. 225, 365

Vallis Quirinalis, site of, i. 464

Vatican, the, i. 467;

history of the quarter, and of the foundation of the Palace, ii. 282—284;

Sala Regia, 285;

Sistine Chapel, paintings of, 286—295;

residence of the pope in, 298;

Museum of Statues, 300;

Braccio-Nuovo, 300;

Cabinets of Sculpture, 308—311;

Gabinetto delle Maschere, 316;

Library of the, 271, 322;

portraits of librarians, 323;

Appartamenti Borgia, 324;

inner Garden of the, 333;

larger Garden, 335;

Golden age of the, 336;

Loggie of Raphael, 337;

Stanze, frescoes in the, 340—345;

Picture Gallery, 347;

Wine of the, 430

Velabrum, the, i. 222;

derivation of name, 223

Velia, the, i. 277

Vespasian, Palace of, i. 281;

favourite residence of, ii. 12

Vesta, Temple of, i. 235;

Shrine of, 298

Via—

S. Agostino, ii. 160

Alessandrina, i. 163

dell' Anima, ii. 193

S. Antonio dei Portoguesi, ii. 156

Appia, i. 372

Appia Nuova, i. 412, 429; ii. 107

Ardeatina, i. 389

Babuino, i. 54

di Banchi, ii. 224

S. Basilio, ii. 12

de' Baullari, ii. 178

del Borgo Nuovo, ii. 236

Borgo Sto. Spirito, ii. 237

delle Botteghe Oscure, i. 268

Calabraga, ii. 170

della Caravita, i. 85

Cassia, ii. 426

S. Claudio, i. 76

Clivus Capitolinus, i. 170, 172

del Colosseo, ii. 47

Condotti, i. 65

della Consolazione, i. 174

delle Convertite, i. 74

dei Coronari, ii. 223

del Corso, i. 36, 60

della Croce Bianca, i. 165

dei Crociferi, i. 464

Crucis, ii. 449

della Ferratelia, i. 382

dei Fienili (Vicus Tuscus), i. 176, 221

Flaminia, great Northern road of Italy, ii. 423

delle Fornaci, ii. 449

S. Giovanni, ii. 94

Decollato, i. 239

de' Fiorentini, ii. 225

Giulia, ii. 175

del Governo Vecchio, ii. 165

Gregoriana, i. 54

S. Gregorio, i. 375

Immerulana, ii. 122

Latina, ii. 124

Longarina, ii. 368

S. Lucia in Selci, ii. 65

Lungara, ii. 434

Lungaretta, ii. 379, 382

de Macao, ii. 34

Maganaopoli, i. 461

Maggiore, ii. 72

Margutta, i. 54

della Marmorata, ii. 392

Mazzarini, i. 461

de Mercede, i. 75

Monserrato, ii. 170

del Monte Tarpeio, i. 272

Morticelli, ii. 379

S. Niccolo in Tolentino, ii. 12

Nova, i. 307

Ostiensis, ii. 409

Pane e Perna, i. 466

S. Pantaleone, ii. 186

in Parione, ii. 165

della Pedacchia, i. 117

del Piè di Marmo, ii. 222

de' Pontefici, i. 61

della Porta Pia, ii. 43

delle Quattro Fontane, i. 474

del Quirinale, i. 444

Ripetta, i. 37

Sta. Sabina, i. 355

Sacra, i. 205

della Salita del Grillo, i. 165

Savelli, ii. 360

della Scala, ii. 388

della Scrofa, ii. 154

S. Sebastiano, i. 375

della Sediola, ii. 197, 202

dei Serpenti, i. 463

Sistina, i. 54

di San Sisto Vecchio, i. 375

Sterrata, i. 443

Tor de' Specchi, i. 270

Tordinona, ii. 223

Triumphalis, i. 206

Urbana, i. 468

della Vale, ii. 185

dei Vascellari, ii. 369

delle Vergine, i. 103

S. Vitale, i. 435, 466

della Vite, i. 74

Vittoria, i. 64

Vicus, Corneliorum, i. 436;

Cyprius, ii. 49

Vigna, Codini, i. 386

dei Gesuiti, i. 368

Marancia, i. 389

Vignola, works of, ii. 418, 421

Villas—

Albani, ii. 17

Altieri, ii. 132

Borghese, ii. 411

of Claude Lorraine, ii. 419

of Commodus, i. 427

Doria, ii. 454

Esmeade, ii. 417

Farnesina, ii. 446

of the Gordians, ii. 133

Lante, ii. 452

Lezzani, ii. 25

List of most important, i. 32

of Livia, ii. 423

of Lucius Verus, ii. 135

Ludovisi, ii. 13

Madama, ii. 426

Massimo Arsoli, ii. 122

Negroni, ii. 35

Rignano, ii. 12

Mattei, i. 332

Medici, i. 49

Mellini, ii. 427

Mills, i. 304, 311

Negroni, i. 473

Olgiati, once of Raphael, ii. 416

Palombara, ii. 74

Pamfili Doria, ii. 454

of Papa Giulio, ii. 418

Patrizi, ii. 25

of the Servilii, ii. 124

Spada, ii. 20

Torlonia, ii. 26

Triopio, i. 414

Wolkonski, ii. 123

Viminal Hill, i. 433, 466

Vinci, Leonardo da, remarkable works of, i. 83; ii. 437

Virgin, one of the earliest representations of the, ii. 21;

first church dedicated to, ii. 382

Volterra, Daniele da, the masterpiece of, i. 52

Vulcanal, site of the, i. 171

W.

Walls—

Aurelian, i. 385

of Romulus, i. 305

Servius Tullius, 368

Wine of the Vatican, ii. 430

Z.

Zucchero, T., tomb of, ii. 210

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The following typographical error were corrected by the etext transcriber:

Palmegiani, 66 Piazzi di Spagna=>Palmegiani, 66 Piazza di Spagna

putatur is esse constitutus è marmore=>putatur is esse constitutus ex marmore

with vaulted cielings and beautiful frescoes=>with vaulted ceilings and beautiful frescoes

after his truimph for his=>after his triumph for his

la mémoire du frère quil avait=>la mémoire du frère qu'il avait

Madame de Stael=>Madame de Staël

cet egard du pauvre Capucin=>cet égard du pauvre Capucin

qui ne connâi de l'histoire des=>qui ne connâit de l'histoire des

dépuis les thermes de=>depuis les thermes de

Before he came to reside here he had been miracuously=>Before he came to reside here he had been miraculously

St. Cyprian and Justinian=>SS. Cyprian and Justinian

The interior of S. Sabba is in the basilica form=>The interior of St. Sabba is in the basilica form

Roma Sotteranea=>Roma Sotterranea

Il fut alors sollicite intérieurement=>Il fut alors sollicité intérieurement

litanies autour de ce tableau."—Stendal.=>litanies autour de ce tableau."—Stendhal.

se précipita dons ses bras,=>se précipita dans ses bras,

good terrra-cotta mouldings=>good terra-cotta mouldings

la visage sérieux=>le visage sérieux

On y voit une femme endormie dont l'attidude=>On y voit une femme endormie dont l'attitude

eyes in the rotonda of the Vatican=>eyes in the rotunda of the Vatican

île a été entrainée par la violence=>île a été entraînée par la violence

construire le palais Pamphili, a créer la villa Pamphili, et a pamphiliser=>construire le palais Pamphili, à créer la villa Pamphili, et à pamphiliser

S. Pancrado, ii. 452=>S. Pancrazio, ii. 452

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Dionysius, xii. 8.

[2] Livy, v. 13.

[3] Observe.—Here and elsewhere the arms of the Della Rovere—an oak-tree. Robur, an oak,—hence Rovere.

[4] The beautiful 15th century altar of four virgin saints at S. Cosimato in Trastevere, is said to have been brought from this chapel.

[5] All authorities agree that this beautiful portrait is not the work of Raphael. Kugler also denies that it is the likeness of Cæsar Borgia.

[6] See Kugler, ii. 449.

[7] Of the many Handbooks for Italy which have appeared, perhaps that of Du Pays (in one volume) is the most comprehensive, and—as far as its very condensed form allows—much the most interesting.

[8] See Trollope's Life of Vittoria Colonna.

[9] See "Un Figliuol' di Maria, ossia un Nuovo nostro Fratello," edited by the Baron di Bussiere. 1842.

[10] It is more worth while to visit the Palazzo Chigi at Lariccia, near Albano, which retains its stamped leather hangings, and much of its old furniture. Here may be seen, assembled in one room, the portraits of the twelve nieces of Alexander VII., who were so enchanted when their uncle was made pope, that they all took the veil immediately to please him!

[11] This Gallery has been closed since the Sardinian occupation.

[12] So called from the Jesuit father of that name, who lived in the 17th century.

[13] Galat. ii. 7.

[14] Philipp. iv. 22.

[15] 2 Timothy i. 16

[16] Philemon 23.

[17] Philipp. ii. 22.

[18] Kugler.

[19] Varro, De Ling. Lat. v. 42.

[20] Smith's Roman Mythology.

[21] Vitruvius, iv. 7, 1.

[22] Pliny, xxxv. 12.

[23] Pliny, vii. 39.

[24] Livy, vii. 3.

[25] Pliny, xxxiii. 18.

[26] Pliny, xxxvi. 5.

[27] Tacitus, Hist. iii. 74.

[28] Tacitus, Hist. iv. 53.

[29] Zosimus, lib. v. c. 38.

[30] Valerius Maximus, ii. 3. 3.

[31] Vitruvius, iii. 2, 5; Propertius, iv. 11, 45; Cic. pro Planc. 32.

[32] Livy, vi. 20.

[33] Livy, v. 48.

[34] Velleius Paterc. ii. 3.

[35] See Merivale, Hist. of the Romans, vol. vi.

[36] Dyer's Rome, 407, 408, 409.

[37] Ampère, Emp. i. 22.

[38] When 400 houses and three or four churches were levelled to the ground to make a road for his triumphal approach.—Rabelais, Lettre viii. p. 21.

[39] Dyer's City of Rome, p. 379.

[40] R, right; L, left.

[41] The statue of Leo X. is interesting as having been erected to this popular art-loving pope in his lifetime. It is inscribed—"Optimi liberalissimique pontificis memoriæ."

[42] Plin. Nat Hist xxix. 14, I; Plut. Fort. Rom. 12.

[43] Hist. Rom. i. 382.

[44] The "Dies Iræ," by Tommaso di Celano, of the fourteenth century.

[45] "Per gradus qui sunt super Calpurnium fornicem."

[46] Paradiso, canto xii.

[47] Hist. Rome.

[48] "Est locus in carcere quod Tullianum appellatur, ubi paululum descenderis ad lævam, circiter duodecim pedes humi depressus. Eum muniunt undique parietes, atque insuper camera lapideis fornicibus vincta; sed incultu, tenebris, odore fœda. atque terribilis ejus facies."—Sall. Catil. lv.

[49] See Ampère, Hist. Rom. ii. 31.

[50] This story is most picturesquely told by Dante. Purg. x. 72.

[51] Ovid, Fasti, v. 575, 699.

[52] Statius, i. 6. Livy, vii. 6.

[53] Livy, vii. 6. Varr. iv. 32.

[54] Pliny, xv. 18.

[55] Suetonius, Aug. 22.

[56] Cicero de Off. ii. 25.

[57] Livy, iii. 48.

[58] Pliny, xv. 29.

[59] Vitruvius, iii.

[60] Ampère, Emp. ii. 233.

[61] Josephus, vii. 37.

[62] Pliny, xxxvi. 7.

[63] See Percy's Romanism.

[64] See the whole question of Simon Magus discussed in Waterworth's "England and Rome."

[65] Prudentius contra Symmac. i. 1, 25.

[66] Dion Cassius, lxvi. 15.

[67] S. Buonaventura is perhaps best known to the existing Christian world as the author of the beautiful hymn, "Recordare sanctæ crucis."

[68] Varro, de R. Rust i. 2, and iii. 16.

[69] See Poggio, De Vanitate Fortunæ.

[70] This inscription, found in the catacomb of S. Agnese, runs:

"Sic præmia servas Vespasiane dire

Premiatus es morte Gaudenti letare

Civitatis ubi gloriæ tuæ autori,

Promisit iste Kristus omnia tibi

Quï alium paravit theatrum in cœlo."

[71] See Hemans' Catholic Italy.

[72] A work has been published by S. Deakin on the Flora of the Coliseum. This was very remarkable, but has greatly suffered during the so-called cleansing of the building by the Italian government in 1871.

[73] Quamdiu stat Colysæus, stabit et Roma; quando cadet Colysæus, cadet Roma; quando cadet Roma, cadet et mundus.

[74] See Ampère, Hist. Rom. ii. 289—292.

[75] "Quis a signo Vertumni in circum maximum venit, quin is unoquoque gradu de avaritia tua commoneretur? quam tu viam tensarum atque pompæ ejus modi exegisti, ut tu ipse ire non audeas."—In Verrem, i. 59.

[76] Varro, de Ling. Lat. v. 44. See Ampère, Hist. Rom. ii. 32.

[77] Varro, de Ling. Lat. iv. 8.

[78] "There is no doubt that many of the amusements, still more many of the religious practices now popular in this capital, may be traced to sources in Pagan antiquity. The game of morra, played with the fingers (the micare digitis of the ancients); the rural feasting before the chapel of the Madonna del divino Amore on Whit Monday; the revelry and dancing sub diu for the whole night on the Vigil of St. John, (a scene on the Lateran piazza, riotous, grotesque, but not licentious); the divining by dreams to obtain numbers for the lottery; hanging ex voto pictures in churches to commemorate escapes from danger or recovery from illness; the offering of jewels, watches, weapons, &c., to the Madonna; the adorning and dressing of sacred images, sometimes for particular days; throwing flowers on the Madonna's figure when borne in processions (as used to be honoured the image, or stone, of Cybele); burning lights before images on the highways; paying special honour to sacred pictures, under the notion of their having moved their eyes; or to others, under the idea of their supernatural origin—made without hands; wearing effigies or symbols as amulets (thus Sylla wore, and used to invoke, a little golden Apollo hung round his neck); suspending flowers to shrines and tombs; besides other uses, in themselves blameless and beautiful, nor, even if objectionable, to be regarded as the genuine reflex of what is dogmatically taught by the Church. This enduring shadow thrown by Pagan over Christian Rome is, however, a remarkable feature in the story of that power whose eminence in ruling and influencing was so wonderfully sustained, nor destined to become extinct after empire had departed from the Seven Hills."—Hemans' Monuments of Rome.

[79] Made to flow with wine under Heliogabalus.

[80] Pliny, xxxiv. 2.

[81] Livy, xxi. 62.

[82] Ampère, Hist. Rom. i.

[83] Dyer, 104.

[84] Livy, v. 40.

[85] Dion Cassius, lxiii. 21.

[86] Ampère, iii. 48.

[87] Vitruvius, iii. 3.

[88] Fasti, i. 515.

[89] Plin. H. N. vii. 36; Val. Max. v. 4—7; Festus, p. 609.

[90] Beatrice and Lucrezia Cenci were imprisoned in the Corte Savella, and led thence to execution.

[91] See the account of the Basilica of St. Lorenzo fuori Mura.

[92] See Ch. IV.

[93] See Dyer's City of Rome.

[94] Sat. iii.

[95] Sat. xvi.

[96] See Dr. Philip's article on "The Jews in Rome."

[97] This account is much abridged from the interesting translation in Whiteside's "Italy in the Nineteenth Century," from "Beatrice Cenci Romana, Storia del Secolo xvi. Raccontata dal D. A. A. Firenze."

[98] Livy, iv. 16; xxxviii. 28.

[99] Merivale, Hist. of Romans under the Empire, chap. xl.

[100] Merivale, chap. xl.

[101] Sueton. Aug. 72.

[102] Livy, i. 41.

[103] Livy, i. 41.

[104] The palace of Numa was close to the Temple of Vesta; that of Tullus Hostilius was on the Cœlian; those of Servius Tullius and Tarquinius Superbus on the Esquiline.

[105] Dionysius, ii. 50; Livy, i. 12.

[106] Varr, iv. 8.

[107] Vell. Paterc. ii. 81.

[108] Tac. Ann. xi. 2.

[109] Dion Cassius mentions that the ceilings of Halls of Justice in the Palatine were painted by Severus to represent the starry sky. The old Roman practice was for the magistrate to sit under the open sky, which probably suggested this kind of ceiling.

[110] Ann, iv. 54.

[111] Tac. Ann. xiii. 18; Suet. Ner. 33; Dion. lxi. 7.

[112] See Gibbon, i. 133.

[113] Tacitus, Hist. i. 77; Suet. Vitell. 15.

[114] Merivale, ch. xlv.

[115] Suet. Cal. 22.

[116] Suet. Claud. 10. "Prorepsit ad solarium proximum, interque prætenta foribus vela se abdidit." The solarium was the external terraced portico, and this still remains.

[117] Tac. Ann. xi. 37, 38; Dion. lx. 31; Suet. Claud. 39.

[118] Tac. Ann. xii. 67; Suet Claud. 44.

[119] Dionysius, i. 32; Livy, xxix. 14.

[120] Dyer's Hist. of the City of Rome.

[121] Ep. i. 70.

[122] Festus, 340, 348.

[123] Suet. Tib. 47; Cal. 21, 22; Tac. Ann. vi. 45.

[124] De re Rust, iii. 5.

[125] Pliny, xxxvi. 2.

[126] See Smith's Dict. of Roman Biography.

[127] Plin. H. N. xvii. 1.

[128] ix. 1, 4.

[129] Suet. Nero, 2.

[130] Smith's Dict. of Roman Biography.

[131] Tollam altius tectum, non ut ego te despiciam, sed ne tu aspicias urbem eam, quam delere voluisti.—De Harusp. Res. 15.

[132] Cic. pro Dom. ad Pont. 42.

[133] See Ampère, Hist. Rom. iv. 528.

[134] Dion Cass. liiii. 27.

[135] Dyer, p. 143.

[136] Pro Quinet. 1, 2, 22, 24, 26.

[137] Pro Verr. i. 14, 39.

[138] Ad Att. vi. 6.

[139] Macrob. Saturn, ii. 9.

[140] Varr. R. R. iii. 17; Pliny, H. N. ix. 55.

[141] Suet. Aug. 72.

[142] Plut. Romul. xi.

[143] Tac. Ann. xii. 24.

[144] Prell. R. Myth. 456.

[145] Cic. de Div. i. 45; Livy, v. 32.

[146] Plut. Rom. Sol. 2.

[147] Cic. Brut. 34.

[148] Padre Garucci, S. J., has published an exhaustive monograph on this now celebrated "Graffito Blasphemo." Roma, 1857.

[149] The Palace of Nero is described in Tacitus, Ann. xv. 42, and Suetonius, Ner. 31.

[150] Septimius Severus was born A.D. 146, near Leptis in Africa. Statius addresses a poem to one of his ancestors, Sept. Severus of Leptis.

[151] Martial, xii. Ep. 75.

[152] Dion Cass. Commod.

[153] Lamprid. Elagab. 8.

[154] Cassiod. vii. 5.

[155] Dyer's Rome, p. 222.

[156] Ampère, Hist. Rom. iv. 460.

[157] Trebellius Pollio.

[158] Gibbon, v. 1.

[159] S. Filippo Neri.

[160] Mrs. Jameson.

[161] Montalembert, Moines d'Occident.

[162] Milman's Latin Christianity, vol. II.

[163] Rome possesses at least eight fine modern statues of saints:—besides those of Sta. Silvia and St. Gregory, are the Sta. Agnese of Algardi, the Sta. Bibiana of Bernini, the Sta. Cecilia of Moderno, the Sta. Susanna of Quesnoy, the Sta. Martina of Menghino, and the S. Bruno of Houdon.

[164] See Roma Sotterranea, p. 106.

[165] "Deus, qui sanctum Joannem confessorem tuum perfectæ suæ abnegationis, et crucis amatorem eximium efficisti, concede; ut ejus imitationi jugiter inhærentes, gloriam assequamur æternam."—Collect of St. John of the Cross, Roman Vesper-Book.

[166] A square nimbus indicates that a portrait was executed before, a round after the death of the person represented.

[167] See Emile Braun—the building of the Macellum is described by Dion Cassius, xi. 18; Notitia, Reg. ii.

[168] Best known by his comic pictures in the Uffizi at Florence.

[169] Virg. Æn. viii. 104, 108, 216; Ov. Fast. i. 551.

[170] Ov. Fast. v. 149.

[171] Ampère, Hist. Rom. i. 79.

[172] Varro, iv. 7.

[173] Livy, i, 20.

[174] Ovid, Fast. iii. 295.

[175] "Onions, hair, and pilchards."—See Plutarch's Life of Numa.

[176] Ampère, Hist. Rom. i. 427.

[177] Dionysius, iii. 43.

[178] Ovid, Fast. v. 293.

[179] Fast. iii 883.

[180] Ovid, Trist. iii. 71.

[181] See the account of the Ch. of Sta. Francesca Romana, Chap. iv.

[182] Livy, v. 22.

[183] Ovid, Fast. vi. 727.

[184] Martial, x. Ep. 56.

[185] Propert. iv. El. 9.

[186] Mart. vi. Ep. 64.

[187] There is a beautiful picture of Sta. Sabina by Vivarini of Murano, in St. Zacharia at Venice.

[188] Hemans' Monuments in Rome.

[189] Commemorated in the beautiful Memoir of "A Dominican Artist" (Rivingtons, 1872).

[190] Some antiquaries attribute them to the wall of the Aventine, built by Ancus Martius. The arch, of course, is an addition.

[191] Hemans' Story of Monuments in Rome, ii. 228.

[192] Livy, i. 10.

[193] Livy, xxvii. 25; xxix. 11.

[194] Hemans' Mediæval Sacred Art.

[195] This bust has been supposed to represent the poet Ennius, the friend of Scipio Africanus, because his last request was that he might be buried by his side. Even in the time of Cicero, Ennius was believed to be buried in the tomb of the Scipios. "Carus fuit Africano superiori noster Ennius: itaque etiam in sepulchro Scipionum putatur is esse constitutus ex marmore."—Cic. Orat. pro Arch. Poeta.

[196] Dyer's Hist. of the City of Rome.

[197] Coppi, Memorie Colonnesi, p. 342.

[198] See Dyer's Hist. of the City of Rome, p. 85.

[199] Ibid. p. 97.

[200] Ibid. p. 122.

[201] This story is told by St. Ambrose.

[202] This story is represented in one of the ancient tapestries in the cathedral of Anagni.

[203] Amm. Marcell. lib. xxvii. c.

[204] Roma Sotterranea, p. 130.

[205] Roma Sotterranea, p. 177.

[206] Roma Sotterranea, p. 97.

[207] St. Melchiades, buried in another part of the catacomb, who lived long in peace after the persecution had ceased.

[208] Hippolytus, Adrias, Marca, Neo, Paulina, and others.

[209] St. Damasus was buried in the chapel above the entrance.

[210] "A more striking commentary on the divine promise, 'The Lord keepeth all the bones of his servants: He will not lose one of them' (Ps. xxxiii. 24), it would be difficult to conceive."—Roma Sotterranea.

[211] Roma Sotterranea, p. 180.

[212] Alban Butler, viii. 204.

[213] Roma Sotterranea, p. 182.

[214] Roma Sotterranea, p. 242.

[215] Roma Sotterranea, p. 247.

[216] Lord Lindsay's Christian Art, i. 46.

[217] Alban Butler, viii. 148.

[218] Lib. Pont.

[219] Now Santa Maria, an island near Gaieta.

[220] Alban Butler, v. 205.

[221] Alban Butler, v. 205.

[222] For these and many other particulars, see an interesting lecture by Mr. Shakespere Wood, on "The Fountain of Egeria," given before the Roman Archæological Society.

[223] Ampère, Hist. Rom. iv. 402.

[224] Merivale, Romans under the Empire, ch. xi.

[225] Ampère, Hist. Rom. i. 141

[226] Dionysius, ii. 63.

[227] Ovid, Met. xiv. 452, 453.

[228] Dyer's Rome, p. 95.

[229] Pliny, Hist. Nat. xv. 35, 2.

[230] Dion Cass. liv.

[231] "De Cæsare vicino scripseram ad te, quia cognoram ex tuis literis, eum σὑνναον, Quirino malo, quam Saluti." Ad Att. xii. 45.

[232] Vespasian had a brother named Sabinus; his son's name recalls that of Titus Tatius.

[233] "Deus, qui inter cætera sapientiæ tuæ miracula etiam in tenera ætate maturæ sanctitatis gratiam contulisti; da, quæsumus, ut beati Stanislai exemplo, tempus, instanter operando, redimentes, in æternam ingredi requiem festinemus."—Collect of St. S. Kostka, Roman Vesper-Book.

[234] Cardinal Wiseman's Life of Pius VII.

[235] By this same master is the interesting fresco of Sixtus IV. and his nephews—now in the Vatican gallery.

[236] The body of this saint is said to repose at S. Lorenzo fuori Mura; his head is at the Quirinal; at S. Lorenzo in Lucina his gridiron and chains are shown.

[237] Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art.

[238] Roma Christiana.

[239] Dyer, p. 94.

[240] "At Rome, Selvaggi made a Latin distich in honour of Milton, and Salsilli a Latin tetrastich, celebrating him for his Greek, Latin, and Italian poetry; and he in return presented to Salsilli in his sickness those fine Scazons or Iambic verses having a spondee in the last foot, which are inserted among his juvenile poems. From Rome he went to Naples."—Newton.

[241] A holy hermit of Scete, who died 391.

[242] See Roma Sotterranea, p. 174.

[243] Une Chrétienne à Rome.

[244] The reasons for this belief are given in "The Roman Catacombs of Northcote," p. 78.

[245] The bodies were removed to Sta. Sabina in the fifth century by Celestine I.

[246] Cramer's Ancient Italy, i. 389.

[247] Cic. Phil. ix. 7. See Dyer's Rome, p. 215.

[248] Sat i. 8, 15.

[249] See Hemans' Catholic Italy, Part I.

[250] Ampère, Hist. Rom. i. 38.

[251] Varro, de Ling. Lat. iv. 8.

[252] Fest. v. Septimone.

[253] Ampère, Hist. Rom. i. 65.

[254] Fest. p. 297.

[255] Cicero pro doma sua, 38; Dionysius, viii. 79; Livy, ii. 41.

[256] See Dyer's City of Rome, p. 65. The Acts of the Martyrs mention that several Christians suffered "In tellure."

[257] See Ampère, Hist. Rom. iv. 421.

[258] See Ampère, Hist. Rom. iv. 431.

[259] Liv. i. 26; Dionysius, iii. 22.

[260] Merivale, Romans under the Empire, ch. liii.

[261] "Des huit figures ébauchées il y en a deux aujourd'hui au musée du Louvre (les deux esclaves). Lorsque Michel-Ange eut renoncé à son plan primitif il en fit don à Roberto Strozzi. Des mains de Strozzi elles passèrent dans celles de François 1er, et puis dans celles du connétable de Montmorency, qui les plaça à son château d'Ecouen, d'où elles sont venues au Louvre. Quatre autres prisonniers sont placés dans la grotte de Buontalenti au jardin du Palais Pitti, à Florence. Un groupe, représentant une figure virile en terrassant une seconde, se voit aujourd'hui dans la grande salle del Cinquecento, au Palais vieux de Florence, où elle fut placé par Côsme 1er."—F. Sabatier.

[262] The wife of Oswy, king of Northumberland received a golden key containing filings of the chains from Pope Vitalianus, in the sixth century.

[263] Acts xii. II.

[264] Hist. Rom. i. 464.

[265] "Ciampini gives an engraving of this figure without the key: a detail, therefore, to be ascribed to restorers:—surely neither justifiable nor judicious."—Hemans.

[266] With a square nimbus, denoting execution in his lifetime, as at Sta. Cecilia and Sta. Maria in Navicella.

[267] See Hemans' Catholic Italy.

[268] Croiret, Vie des Saints.

[269] I. 26.

[270] Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 177.

[271] It was found in the gardens of the convent of Sta. Maria sopra Minerva

[272] This pagan benediction of the animals is represented in a bas-relief in the Vatican (Museo Pio-Clementino, 157). A peasant bearing two ducks as his offering, brings his cow to be blessed by a priest at the door of a chapel, and the priest delaying to come forth, a calf drinks up the holy water. Ovid describes how he took part in the feast of Pales, and sprinkled the cattle with a laurel bough. (Fasti, iv. 728.)

[273] His flat tombstone is in the centre of the nave.

[274] This story is the subject of two of Murillo's most beautiful pictures in the Academy at Madrid. The first represents the vision of the Virgin to John and his wife,—in the second they tell what they have seen to Pope Liberius.

[275] This mosaic will bring to mind the beautiful lines of Dante:—

"L'amor che mosse già l'eterno padre

Per figlia aver di sua Deita trina

Costei che fu del figlio suo poi madre

Dell' universo qui fa la regina."

[276] See Sta. Dorothea, ch. xvii.

[277] St. Venantius was a child martyred at Camerino, under Decius, in 250. Pope Clement X., who had been bishop of Camerino, had a peculiar veneration for this saint.

[278] This figure of the Virgin is of great interest, as introducing the Greek classical type under which she is so often afterwards represented in Latin art.

[279] It was near the Lateran, on the site of the gardens of Plautius Lateranus, that the famous statues of the Niobedes, attributed to Scopus, now at Florence, were found. The fine tomb of the Plautii is a striking object on the road to Tivoli.

[280] See Sta. Pudenziana, ch. x.

[281] These columns are mentioned in the thirteenth century list of Lateran relics, which says that all the relics of the Temple at Jerusalem brought by Titus, were preserved at the Lateran.

[282] There is a curious mosaic portrait of Clement XII. in the Palazzo Corsini.

[283] Sergius III. ob. 911; Agapetus II. ob. 956; John XII. ob. 964; Sylvester II. ob. 1003; John XVIII. ob. 1009; Alexander II. ob. 1073; Pascal II. ob. 1118; Calixtus II. ob. 1124; Honorius II. ob. 1140; Celestine II. ob. 1143; Lucius II. ob. 1145; Anastasius IV. ob. 1154; Alexander III. ob. 1159; Clement III. ob. 1191; Celestine III. ob. 1198; Innocent V. ob. 1276—were buried at St. John Lateran, besides those later popes whose tombs still exist.

[284] "Ces monuments, consacrés par la tradition, n'ont pas été jugés cependant assez authentiques pour être solennellement exposés a la vénération des fidèles."—Gournerie.

[285] Sta. Helena is claimed as an English saint, and all the best authorities allow that she was born in England,—according to Gibbon, at York—according to others, at Colchester, which town bears as its arms a cross between three crowns, in allusion to this claim. Some say that she was an innkeeper's daughter, others that her father was a powerful British prince, Coilus or Coel.

[286] Emp. ii. 43.

[287] The existence of this inscription makes the destruction of this catacomb under Pius IX. the more extraordinary.

[288] Dyer's Rome, 70.

[289] Ampère, Hist. ii. 10.

[290] Ampère, Emp. i. 184.

[291] Pliny, H. N. xxxv. 37, 2; and 49, 4.

[292] Dyer, 111.

[293] Dyer, 211.

[294] It was close to this temple of Hercules that the bodies of Sta. Symphorosa and her seven sons, martyred under Hadrian ("the seven Biothanati"), were buried by order of the emperor. Sta. Symphorosa herself had been hung up here by her hair, before being drowned in the Tiber.

[295] Dyer, 113, 115.

[296] Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 198.

[297] Dyer, 115.

[298] Dyer, 115, 116.

[299] Pliny, H. N. xxxvi. 15, 24.

[300] So called from a fountain adorned with the figure of a sow, which once existed here.

[301] "Here rests Hadrian, who found his greatest misfortune in being obliged to command."

[302] There is a chapel dedicated to St. Bridget in S. Paolo fuori Mura. Sion House, in England, was a famous convent of the Brigittines.

[303] See Penny Cyclopædia, and Lewes's Hist. of Philosophy.

[304] Shakespeare, Julius Cæsar, act iii. sc. 2.

[305] So called from a slight hollow, scarcely now perceptible, left by a reservoir made by Agrippa for the public benefit, and used by Nero in his fêtes.

[306] The story of St. Agnes is told by St. Jerome.

[307] Donna Olympia soon after died of the plague at her villa near Viterbo.

[308] "Les maisons de la Place Navone sont assises sur la base des anciens gradins du cirque de Domitien. Sous ces gradins étaient les voûtes habitées par des femmes perdues."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 137.

[309] A corruption of "Epiphania"—Epiphany.

[310]

"Living, great nature feared he might outvie

Her works; and, dying, fears herself to die."

Pope's Translation (without acknowledgment) in

his Epitaph on Sir Godfrey Kneller.

[311] Raphael lay in state beneath his last great work, the Transfiguration.

[312] See Gregorovius, Grabmāler der Pāpste.

[313] Author of the "Rationale Divinorum Officiorum"—"A treasure of information on all points connected with the decorations and services of the mediæval church. Durandus was born in Provence about 1220, and died in 1290 at Rome."—Lord Lindsay.

[314] It is no honour to me to be like another Apelles, but rather, O Christ, that I gave all my gains to thy poor. One was a work for earth, the other for heaven—a city, the flower of Etruria, bare me, John.

[315] That part of the ancient Campus Martius which contains the Theatre of Marcellus and Portico of Octavia, is described in Chapter V.; that which belongs to the Via Flaminia in Chapter II.

[316] Vasari, v.

[317] A scholar of Bronzino.

[318] See Vasari, vol. vii.

[319] It is interesting to observe that the same vision was seen under the same circumstances in other periods of history.

"So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel, and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men. And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it ... and David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem."—1 Chron. xxi. 14—16.

"Before the plague of London had begun (otherwise than in St. Giles's), seeing a crowd of people in the street, I joined them to satisfy my curiosity, and found them all staring up into the air, to see what a woman told them appeared plain to her. This was an angel clothed in white, with a fiery sword in his hand, waving it, or brandishing it over his head: she described every part of the figure to the life, and showed them the motion and the form."—Defoe, Hist. of the Plague.

[320] The pictures at Ara Cœli and Sta. Maria Maggiore both claim to be that carried by St. Gregory in this procession. The song of the angels is annually commemorated on St. Mark's Day, when the clergy pass by in procession to St. Peter's; and the Franciscans of Ara Cœli and the canons of Sta. Maria Maggiore, halting here, chaunt the antiphon, Regina cœli, lætare.

[321] Hemans' Story of Monuments in Rome.

[322] "Deus, qui apostolo tuo Petro collatis clavibus regni celestis ligandi et solvendi pontificium tradidisti; concede ut intercessionis ejus auxilio, a peccatorum nostrorum legibus liberemur: et hanc civitatem, quam te adjuvante fundavimus, fac ab ira tua in perpetuum permanere securam, et de hostibus, quorum causa constructa est, novos et multiplicatos habere triumphos, per Dominum nostrum," &c.

[323] The same whom Alexander VI. had intended to poison, when he poisoned himself instead.

[324] At the time of its erection Sixtus V. conceded an indulgence of ten years to all who, passing beneath the obelisk, should adore the cross on its summit, repeating a pater-noster.

[325] The inscription is from Isaiah iv. 6, "A tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain."

[326] It may not be uninteresting to give the actual words of the benediction:—

"May the holy apostles Peter and Paul, in whose power and dominion we trust, pray for us to the Lord! Amen.

"Through the prayers and merits of the blessed, eternal Virgin Mary, of the blessed archangel Michael, the blessed John the Baptist, the holy apostles Peter and Paul, and all saints—may the Almighty God have mercy upon you, may your sins be forgiven you, and may Jesus Christ lead you to eternal life. Amen.

"Indulgence, absolution, and forgiveness of all sins—time for true repentance, a continual penitent heart and amendment of life,—may the Almighty and merciful God grant you these! Amen.

"And may the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, descend upon you, and remain with you for ever. Amen."

[327] "Exuens se chlamyde, et accipiens bidentem, ipse primus terram aperuit ad fundamenta basilicæ Sancti Petri continendam; deinde in numero duodecim apostolorum duodecim cophinos plenos in humeris superimpositos bajulano, de eo loco ubi fundamenta Basilicæ Apostoli erant jacenda."—Cod. Vat. 7. Sancta Cæcil. 2.

[328] The façade of the old basilica is seen in Raphael's fresco of the Incendio del Borgo, and its interior in that of the Coronation of Charlemagne.

[329] See Fergusson's Handbook of Architecture, vol. ii.

[330] As in the portico of the temple of Mars were preserved the verses of the poet Attius upon Junius Brutus.

[331] These letters are in real mosaic. Those in the nave and transepts are in paper—to complete them in mosaic would have been too expensive.

[332] Innocent sent two bishops to receive it at Ancona, two cardinals to receive it at Narni, and went himself, with all his court, to meet it at the Porto del Popolo.

[333] Eaton's Rome.

[334] Gregorovius, Grabmäler der Päpste.

[335] There is a fine portrait of Urban VIII. by Pietro da Cortona, in the Capitol gallery.

[336] See Vasari, vi. 265.

[337] This mosaic occupied ten men constantly for nine years, and cost 60,000 francs.

[338] Gregorovius.

[339] He had been bishop of St. Alban's, and a missionary for the conversion of Norway.

[340] The principal authorities for the fact of St. Peter's being at Rome—so often denied by ultra-protestants—are: St. Jerome, Catalogus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum, in Petro; Tertullian, de Prescriptionibus, c. xxxvi.; and Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica, lib. ii. cap. xxiv.

[341] See Hemans' Catholic Italy, vol. i.

[342] See Dyer's Hist. of the City of Rome, p. 358.

[343] Pliny, xxxv. 15.

[344] Tac. Ann. xv. 44.

[345] In the Campo-Santo of Pisa.

[346] Fifteen Psalms are sung before the Miserere begins, and one light is extinguished for each—the Psalms being represented by fifteen candles.

[347] See the account of the "Tombs of the Scipios" in Chapter IX.

[348] Who is buried by the altar of S. Pietro in Vincoli.

[349] Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne, ii. 62.

[350] For a detailed account of this collection, see Dennis' "Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria," whence many of the quotations above are taken; also Mrs. Hamilton Gray's "Sepulchres of Etruria."

[351] Vasari calls it Palazzo nel Bosco del Belvedere.

[352] "This is perhaps the grandest of the whole series. Here the Almighty is seen rending like a thunderbolt the thick shroud of fiery clouds, letting in that light under which his works were to spring into life."—Lady Eastlake.

[353] The candle is ingeniously made crooked in the socket, not to interfere with the lines of the architecture, while the flame is straight.

[354] "According to the 'Spiritual Meadow' of John Moschus, who died A.D. 620, the lion is said to have pined away after Jerome's death, and to have died at last on his grave."

[355] See Stefano Infessura, Rev. Ital. Script, tom. iii.

[356] Corio, 1st mil. p. 876.

[357] Ampère, i. 436.

[358] See Hemans' Monuments in Rome.

[359] Piranesi's engraving shows that a hundred years ago there existed, in addition, a colossal bust, and a hand holding the serpent-twined rod of Æsculapius.

[360] Wordsworth.

[361] Hemans' Monuments in Rome.

[362] See the Acts of the Martyrs St. Hippolytus and St. Adrian, and the Acts of St. Calepodius, quoted by Canina, R. Aut. p. 584.

[363] Plautus, Capt. i. I, 22.

[364] See the Epistle of St Denis, the Areopagite, to Timothy.

[365] The accounts of the apostle's death vary greatly: "St. Prudentius says that both St. Peter and St. Paul suffered together in the same field, near a swampy ground, on the banks of the Tiber. Some say St. Peter suffered on the same day of the month, but a year before St. Paul. But Eusebius, St. Epiphanius, and most others, affirm that they suffered the same year, and on the 29th of June."—Alban Butler.

[366] It is under the shadow of S. Paolo that Cervantes ("Wanderings of Persiles and Sigismunda") places the scene of the death of Periander.

[367] Mrs. Jameson.

[368] Among the most interesting of the objects lost in the fire were the bronze gates ordered by Hildebrand (afterwards Gregory VII.) when legate at Constantinople, for Pantaleone Castelli, in 1070, and adorned with fifty-four scriptural compositions, wrought in silver thread.

[369] This picture is now called the Nuptials of Vertumnus and Pomona.

[370] Turrigeræ Antemnæ.—Virg. Æn. vii. 631.

[371]

—— Antemnaque prisco

Crustumio prior.

[372] The other two were Cæcina and Crustumium.

[373] See Dyer's Hist. of the City of Rome.

[374] Masses of reddish rock of volcanic tufa are still to be seen here, breaking through the soil of the Campagna.

[375] Built by Mario Mellini in the fifteenth century.

[376] Martial, Ep. x. 45, 5.

[377] Martial, Ep. vi. 92, 3.

[378] Fast. i. 246.

[379] Ampère, Hist. Rom. i. 227.

[380] Niebuhr, i. 240.

[381] Arnold, Hist. vol. i.

[382] Ampère, Hist. Rom. i. 389.

[383] Niebuhr, i. 353.

[384] Hemans.

[385] See Thiers' History of the French Revolution.

[386] It has been supposed that the beautiful silver vase which is shown in the Corsini Palace, and which was picked up in the Tiber, belonged to this plate.

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Table of Contents

WALKS IN ROME

CONTENTS VOLUME I.

INTRODUCTORY. THE ARRIVAL IN ROME.

CHAPTER I. DULL-USEFUL INFORMATION.

CHAPTER II. THE CORSO AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.

CHAPTER III. THE CAPITOLINE.

CHAPTER IV. THE FORUMS AND THE COLISEUM.

CHAPTER V. THE VELABRUM AND THE GHETTO.

CHAPTER VI. THE PALATINE.

CHAPTER VII. THE CŒLIAN.

CHAPTER VIII. THE AVENTINE.

CHAPTER IX. THE VIA APPIA.

CHAPTER X. THE QUIRINAL AND VIMINAL.

WALKS IN ROME

CONTENTS VOLUME II.

CHAPTER XI. THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF THE BATHS OF DIOCLETIAN.

CHAPTER XII. THE ESQUILINE.

CHAPTER XIII. THE BASILICAS OF THE LATERAN, SANTA CROCE, AND S. LORENZO.

CHAPTER XIV. IN THE CAMPUS MARTIUS.

CHAPTER XV. THE BORGO AND ST. PETER'S.

CHAPTER XVI. THE VATICAN.

CHAPTER XVII. THE ISLAND AND THE TRASTEVERE.

CHAPTER XVIII. THE TRE FONTANE AND S. PAOLO.

CHAPTER XIX. THE VILLAS BORGHESE, MADAMA, AND MELLINI.

CHAPTER XX. THE JANICULAN.

INDEX.

FOOTNOTES:

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